Albert Hughes
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The duo clearly did their homework while preparing for their comeback project; references to other cinematic apocalypses abound (biker gangs that could have ridden right out of Mad Max; a poster for the 1975 cult favorite A Boy and His Dog displayed in the background of one key scene) and the movie opens with a pre-title sequence that evokes the dark, desolate, ash-strewn world described in Cormac McCarthy's The Road more faithfully than the recent film version of that Pulitzer Prize-winning novel.
The Bigger Picture: Considering that The Book of Eli combines the postapocalyptic milieu of a Mad Max flick with the brutal violence and gospel message of The Passion of the Christ, it's easy to imagine that it might become Mel Gibson 's favorite movie of the year.
If there is anything of even the least note about this film, it is that it's been quite a good long while since I can recall a post-apocalyptic film to invent so very little and to rip off the Mad Max movies quite so happily.
Yes folks we're in Mad Max, Terminator Salvation and even The Postman country as a grizzled, bible toting and quoting Denzel goes on his ‘lone wolf’ (or Littlest Hobo) mission to save humanity, one town at a time.
Eli, a former K-Mart store hand but clearly believing himself a Christian prophet, manages to escape the town alongside Solara but Carnegie and his stooges (led by Ray Stevenson) are hot on his tail across the desert wastes a la Mad Max.
The film’s marketing is deceptive because you’re given the impression this is first and foremost an action movie set in a dystopian future ala “Mad Max,” but instead, the movie gets bogged down in exposition about the significance of the central plot device.
The duo clearly did their homework while preparing for their comeback project; references to other cinematic apocalypses abound (biker gangs that could have ridden right out of Mad Max; a poster for the 1975 cult favorite A Boy and His Dog displayed in the background of one key scene) and the movie opens with a pre-title sequence that evokes the dark, desolate, ash-strewn world described in Cormac McCarthy's The Road more faithfully than the recent film version of that Pulitzer Prize-winning novel.
Wandering the scorched landscape familiar to countless other post-apocalyptic movies—The Road Warrior and A Boy And His Dog especially, though the film owes something to ’70s anti-Westerns, too—Denzel Washington plays a loner heading west with precious cargo.
Though it cribs wholeheartedly from previous end-of-the-world cinematic observations (think of the film as a cross between “The Road,” “The Postman,” and “A Boy and His Dog”), the Hughes Brothers craft a compellingly abrasive tone of moral manipulation to embellish the traditional maneuvers of violence, as Eli defends his secret tomb from would-be thieves and crusty scoundrels.
The oft-televised The Lodger (1944) is moodier, while 1979's Time After Time is more fanciful and more fun.
A darkly sumptuous, exceedingly enticing murder mystery, the film, directed by James McTeigue (2005's " V for Vendetta "), reminds of 2001's Jack the Ripper saga " From Hell ," or, what Guy Ritchie's overly silly, dull and inconsequential " Sherlock Holmes " movies should have been from the start.
The ambitious script, by Ben Livingston and Hannah Shakespeare (really!), is part "Seven", part " From Hell ", and part " Sherlock Holmes ", but despite its been-there killed-that derivations, there are enough clever nods to Poe's writing, enough literary inside-winks, and enough fun had with his final days, that it should appease its viewers (though, I'm not sure who its target audience might be).
Overall, “The Raven” has a similar feel to director James McTeigue’s previous “V For Vendetta” as well as the Johnny Depp Jack the Ripper thriller “From Hell.”
Imagine a world where the Johnny Depp-starring adaptation of Alan Moore’s “From Hell” was such a smash it spawned imitators hoping to cash in on its success.
What passes for detective work in this leaden whodunit falls light years short of " From Hell " or " Sleepy Hollow ," where the investigator digs deep enough into the case to find a familiar face gazing back at him, a killer who's the hero's psychic doppelganger.
It’s From Hell with less style and less personality.
The Bigger Picture: Considering that The Book of Eli combines the postapocalyptic milieu of a Mad Max flick with the brutal violence and gospel message of The Passion of the Christ, it's easy to imagine that it might become Mel Gibson 's favorite movie of the year.
In the wake of The Passion Of The Christ, the expected deluge of big-budget Christian entertainments has never quite materialized, but the logline for the post-apocalyptic thriller The Book Of Eli—about a Biblical warrior who protects the last known copy of the Good Book—suggests a late start.
Naturally, Denzel devotees and action fans should line up early, but with some crafty targeted marketing Eli could also score big with the same Christian crowd that made The Passion Of The Christ into a worldwide phenomenon.
Alan Moore, the book's masterly writer, divorced himself early on from the Hollywood project, mortified with what the studios did to his “V for Vendetta,” “From Hell” and “The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.”
“From Hell,” “The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen”), nothing has come so close to capturing the mad Englishman’s idiosyncratic style like this.
Moore, soured by the Hollywood mangling of From Hell , The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and V for Vendetta , has removed his good name from the credits.
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003)
Directed by Stephen Norrington
influenced by From Hell (2001)
The film's premise--inherited from the graphic novel by "From Hell" creator Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill--is promising: What if a handful of the most compelling Victorian literary icons were assembled to form a kind superhero team in an age before such things as superheroes existed?
First things first – if you’re a fan of Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill’s excellent comic book, then you won’t fail to be disappointed with the big screen adaptation of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (or “LXG”, as Fox are insisting on nick-naming it) as it pretty much suffers the same fate that befell From Hell.
It takes a certain kind of talent to sanitize a comic book and then dumb it down, but that's exactly what's been done to this brainchild of Alan Moore (From Hell) and Kevin O'Neill, which brings together a number of great figures from literature and sets them out on new adventures.
Such is the cruel fate that awaits "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen," a handsome but frustratingly shallow adaptation of the comic book series by Alan Moore ("From Hell") and Kevin O'Neill.
The similarity may have come easily to Moore, whose graphic novel “ From Hell ” was about the Ripper, and inspired a good 2001 movie by the Hughes brothers.
Writer/producers Andy and Larry Wachowski ("The Matrix" series) may have given the directing reins over to their "Matrix" first assistant James McTeigue, but their fingerprints are all over this adaptation of the 1980's Alan Moore ("From Hell," "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen") anti-Thatcherism graphic novel.
Alan Moore made quite a stink earlier this year by publicly disassociating himself from the cinematic adaptation of his 1982 graphic novel V for Vendetta, which he assumed – after unpleasant experiences with From Hell and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen – would be bastardized in its translation to the screen.
3 1/2 Stars (out of 4) Tweet You Can Count on 'V' By Jeffrey M. Anderson Legendary comic book writer Alan Moore (Watchmen, From Hell) recently denounced Andy and Larry Wachowski's screenplay adaptation of V for Vendetta, but that's just who he is.
Previous screen adaptations of the English writer's comics and characters had resulted in movies that ranged from bad ("Constantine," 2005) to worse ("From Hell," 2001) to worthless ("The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen," 2003).
But when Eli hits a small frontier town run by a gangster called Carnegie (Gary Oldman, back in arch villain mode), the resemblance ends and the film evolves into an old-style good versus bad face-off straight out of a Sergio Leone movie (in fact, one of the characters repeatedly whistles Ennio Morricone’s theme to Once Upon A Time In America).
Along the way, Eli comes across a little town pretty reminiscent of those old Western towns in movies like "High Noon" or "Unforgiven."
Yes folks we're in Mad Max, Terminator Salvation and even The Postman country as a grizzled, bible toting and quoting Denzel goes on his ‘lone wolf’ (or Littlest Hobo) mission to save humanity, one town at a time.
Unlike other attempts at showcasing how rationality is restored in a society destroyed by chaos (say, The Postman), The Book of Eli never loses sight of its strategy.
Though it cribs wholeheartedly from previous end-of-the-world cinematic observations (think of the film as a cross between “The Road,” “The Postman,” and “A Boy and His Dog”), the Hughes Brothers craft a compellingly abrasive tone of moral manipulation to embellish the traditional maneuvers of violence, as Eli defends his secret tomb from would-be thieves and crusty scoundrels.
Nine Is No ‘8½’ I never saw the stage musical Nine, but despite some enjoyable musical numbers from the master, director Rob Marshall (Chicago), the screen version of Nine is not likely to extend the life of the not-quite-extinct musical genre.
The duo clearly did their homework while preparing for their comeback project; references to other cinematic apocalypses abound (biker gangs that could have ridden right out of Mad Max; a poster for the 1975 cult favorite A Boy and His Dog displayed in the background of one key scene) and the movie opens with a pre-title sequence that evokes the dark, desolate, ash-strewn world described in Cormac McCarthy's The Road more faithfully than the recent film version of that Pulitzer Prize-winning novel.
The Book of Eli might also suffer over its uncanny resemblance to John Hillcoat’s current release The Road in that it follows a man heading westwards across America after an apocalyptic event has devastated the world.
Clearly the biggest hurdle facing the first movie from the Hughes Brothers since their Jack the Ripper thriller “From Hell,” is that it’s coming out so soon after John Hillcoat’s adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s “The Road.”
Post-apocalyptic America has become a popular place for filmgoers to hang, whether we’re walking “The Road” with Viggo Mortensen or seeking “Salvation” in the latest “Terminator” installment.
Menace II Society (1993)
Directed by Allen Hughes
influenced The Book of Eli (2010), From Hell (2001)
Known for urban black material "Menace II Society," "Dead Presidents," "American Pimp" the Hugheses shift to a different 'hood: London's Whitechapel area, site of the Ripper's legendary unsolved mutilations of five prostitutes in 1888.
Directed by Allen and Albert Hughes (Menace II Society), this new Jack the Ripper film arrives just in time for Halloween.
Albert and Allen Hughes , whose past credits include the ultraviolent, socially conscious Dead Presidents (1995) and Menace II Society (1993), seem to seek out unsavory characters rather than shy away from them.
As directed by Albert and Allen Hughes ("Menace II Society," "Dead Presidents"), the film is too long, too convoluted, never hugely suspenseful, and notably heavy-handed in its eagerness to depict an utterly black heart at the core of the British Empire.
As helmed by co-directors and siblings Allen and Albert Hughes ("Dead Presidents," "Menace II Society"), the film is an incredibly graphic version of the tale, taken from a rather intriguing point of view detailing the motivation behind the crimes and the lives of the lower class victims affected by them.
Oct. 19, 2001 | Ever since the film was announced, the press has commented on how incongruous it was that Allen and Albert Hughes would stray from the modern urban American milieu of "Menace II Society" and "Dead Presidents" to the Victorian London setting of "From Hell," Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell's graphic novel about Jack the Ripper.
Oldman brings demented charm to the role (echoes of Dennis Hopper in "Waterworld") as the madman who thrives in a mad, mad world.
Travolta had his "Battlefield Earth," Costner had his "Waterworld" and now Denzel Washington has his truly awful sci-fi epic, "The Book of Eli."
It's more brutal than "Road Warrior" and completely unlike "Waterworld," if you were concerned.
Granted, there are films which have spiritual, even religious contexts (The Matrix, Babylon A.D. ), yet none that contains the strong evangelical spirit upon which The Book of Eli proudly draws its influence.
That murky nothingness is then enhanced by hyper-realized action sequences that reach into a bag of cinematic tricks from The Matrix to Children Of Men.
The effect is rather spoilt by the way that the arrow, in flight, snaps into slow-motion for a bit, and a bit of dust gets pinged off the arrowhead in some moronically sexy and stylish way, and we all take a good long remember about why The Matrix was ultimately bad for the art of cinema.
Throughout The Book Of Eli, directors Albert and Allen Hughes opt to slow down the perpetually sagging storyline by resorting to pointless slow-mo and roving camerawork that looked cool in The Matrix but feels very tired now.
A humorous sidetrip to a farmhouse (with no less a reference to Motel Hell) becomes the kind of excitingly innovative shootout that Michael Bay thought he was doing in Bad Boys II and only succeeded in making the audience nauseous.
Que nadie espere una nueva En busca del fuego (Jean-Jacques Annaud, 1981), esto es más un curioso spin-off sobre cómo el niño de Ice Age (Chris Wedge, Carlos Saldanha, 2002) creció convirtiéndose en el primer animalista de la historia.
When this was first announced, I was sure Sony would animate it, “Ice Age” style.
The sun is punishing, the weather’s cataclysmic, the wind so powerful it’s enough to send your hat flying off into the air, but other than that the post-apocalyptic wasteland featured in Finch is fairly tame compared to the afterworlds we’ve seen in such films as The Road , The Book of Eli , Mad Max 2,3, &4 , A Quiet Place , Planet of the Apes , and so forth.
The time period and general mood of this mystery might remind one a bit of the Hughes Brothers' take on Alan Moore's "From Hell" or Roman Polanski's "Oliver Twist," but Burger's solid adaptation does a much better job with the story and its intriguing characters.