# Ther Book of Eli - Denzel Washington Does Kali!!



## Guro Harold

Just saw "The Book of Eli" and I was impressed with Denzel's Bolo fighting scenes as well as the other FMA techniques that he executed.

He even did a sarong/marong technique!!!

Denzel's bolo design was pretty nasty too.

Many props to Jeff Imada for his sharing the FMAs through his stunt/fight choreography work!


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## Omar B

So you liked it then?  A friend passed me the script last October and I wasnt drivent o see it.  Not that I thought it was bad, just not enough to pull me away from the Colts/Ravens game.


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## K831

Sounds like the fight scenes were pretty good. How was the movie in general? It is one of my "hope it turns out as good as it could be" movies.


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## terryl965

Thanks I will need to go see it, I thought it might be good for the fight scenes but you never know do ya!!!


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## Steve

I went to see it with my son.  It was okay.  I would say not good... definitely not great.

For atmosphere, look and feel, they did a great job.  The sense of desolation post-apocalypse was right on.  Think Fallout 3 but in movie form.

Plot was ridiculous.  I got a hunch about a plot twist at the end, and turns out I was right.  Without spoiling anything, let's just say that the director cheated (IMO) the twist.  

Add to the not so surprise ending that there were some pretty serious unanswered questions and plot holes and the story begins to fall apart.  Not the least of which is, how does a former K-Mart employee become such a complete badass?  

Anyway.  It was... okay, but I wouldn't sit through it again.  The two decent fight scenes in the movie were shown almost in their entirity in the previews, so if you've seen the trailer, you've quite literally seen the best 5 minutes of the entire thing.


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## Flying Crane

stevebjj said:


> I went to see it with my son. It was okay. I would say not good... definitely not great.
> 
> For atmosphere, look and feel, they did a great job. The sense of desolation post-apocalypse was right on. Think Fallout 3 but in movie form.
> 
> Plot was ridiculous. I got a hunch about a plot twist at the end, and turns out I was right. Without spoiling anything, let's just say that the director cheated (IMO) the twist.
> 
> Add to the not so surprise ending that there were some pretty serious unanswered questions and plot holes and the story begins to fall apart. Not the least of which is, how does a former K-Mart employee become such a complete badass?
> 
> Anyway. It was... okay, but I wouldn't sit through it again. The two decent fight scenes in the movie were shown almost in their entirity in the previews, so if you've seen the trailer, you've quite literally seen the best 5 minutes of the entire thing.


 
I agree.

In addition it has a very obvious and overt religious theme throughout, and that's just not really my thing.  It felt kinda preachy.  They could have made it more subtle, but they went for the in-your-face obvious route.  Kinda felt like I was in church.


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## Omar B

That's why I didn't like what I read.  But then those who are religious might be into it.


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## Flying Crane

Omar B said:


> That's why I didn't like what I read.  But then those who are religious might be into it.



there were numerous people in the theater who seemed to like the overt religious theme.  I felt kind of uncomfortable.


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## Omar B

Yeah, I kinda find it odd that the entire movie's plot turns on a religious artifact as it's mcguffin.  But whatever, to each his own right.


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## K831

I go to church every Sunday, so I doubt the religiosity will bother me (unless it makes light of faith).. I am concerned with the fight scenes and over all quality!


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## zDom

stevebjj said:


> ... how does a former K-Mart employee become such a complete badass?



Um ... by spending a lot of time in the dojo on his days off? 

Followed by 30 years of fighting for his life ...

But, yea, the twist was um ... I'll say, not WELL supported by what I saw earlier in the movie. Some hints of it, if you are looking for them, but lacking consistency.

I still liked it. I really liked the character's demeanor leading up to and following confrontations, both physical and otherwise.

Denzel did well .. but then I think he usually does.


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## Steve

zDom said:


> Um ... by spending a lot of time in the dojo on his days off?
> 
> Followed by 30 years of fighting for his life ...


Haha. Yeah, you may be right. My son said, "Well, dad. He worked at K-Mart!" 

But in all seriousness, it was lazy storytelling. EVERYONE in the movie had, in theory, been fighting for their lives for many, many years and while we might presume as an audience that a former Navy Seal has received advanced combat training, a KMart employee is a different thing entirely. 


> But, yea, the twist was um ... I'll say, not WELL supported by what I saw earlier in the movie. Some hints of it, if you are looking for them, but lacking consistency.


I agree. There were hints and cues, but there were also many scenes in which it looked the the director intentionally misled the audience. I call that cheating the twist, meaning the director foreshadowed the plot twist, but also did things that knowing the surprise you'd go... ehh... I don't know about that. 


SPOILERS BELOW








Spoiler



It was clear early on that he was blind. It struck me immediately that he was stumbling over cans and such and just appeared clumsy, and the director made such a big deal about his sense of smell. But having decided that this was the twist, his eye contact was too direct, following objects and people that he would never have been able to as a blind person. I work with many people who are blind, who are extremely well adjusted and functional, but it's clear that, while they get around amazingly well, they are obviously visually impaired.


 








> I still liked it. I really liked the character's demeanor leading up to and following confrontations, both physical and otherwise.


Well, I'm not sure I _liked_ it... but I will also agree that he played the role well. Leading into the conflict, he was non-threatening, doing or saying what was necessary to avoid violence if possible. Once into it, though, it was brutal. 

Regarding the religious overtones, that didn't bother me. 

SPOILERS BELOW:







Spoiler



There were overt religious overtones, but at the end of the movie, it was pretty clear that the point was that religion can provide purpose and a comforting sense of order. As was stated early on, the words give meaning and purpose, so that people can operate on a higher level rather than succumbing to more base motivations. Adding the bible to the shelf along with all of the other major religious canons was a positive, in my mind, although I would, frankly, not have minded if it was an overtly christian movie.


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## Guro Harold

k, I of course liked and posted this thread because the movie contained Kali but I do have some points about the film in general:

Eli working at K-mart - k, to me I look at this as a tribute to all us regular folk, who have at one time in our lives, taken our hard earned cash and spent it on martial arts classes, belt tests, seminars, and tournaments. A person's dedication can overcome their personal station. I think that was one of the themes of the movie.

Hmmm, movies with great plot, martial arts, and action - I can speak of myself in that I have seen a lot of truly bad martial arts movies where plot is like the concept of disarms, "either incidental or accidental at best."


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## celtic_crippler

I saw an interview with Denzel and it included Dan Inosanto. Apparetnly he was a consultant.


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## Guro Harold

celtic_crippler said:


> I saw an interview with Denzel and it included Dan Inosanto. Apparetnly he was a consultant.


Jeff Imada is a student of Guro Dan Inosanto. Mr Imada though received the film credit for Fight/Stunt Choreographer for the film.


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