... with Haiti on the mind and the perpetual high stakes of this complex existence we are a part of, screen fantasy can offer a pressure-release valve, a chance to visit another dimension or the illusion of one ... to breathe in a popcorn-scented, climate-controlled change from routine and limiting existences ... this is true even if the world you are transported to is post-apocalyptic ... or an imaginary, ex-planetary one ...
... I've got news for The Brothers Hughes ... if your story is set in a time following a great manifestation of pestilence or destruction ... and, you style the look of your film in the dusty tradition of Mad Max, you court the tag "post-apocalyptic" ... and, if you construct the sets to be reminiscent of wild-western towns, saloon, shoot-out street, head-'em-off-at-the-pass buzzard's-eye P.O.V. and all, then we will see cowboys and sheriff badges ... jus' so it go ... but why not?, these are genre choices which don't preclude the result being enjoyable ....
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... so, when my son said he had strong thoughts of me as he watched The Book Of Eli, and really wanted to know what I thought of it, I was intrigued but thought better of digging too deep for fear of spoilers ...
... what I encountered at the cinema shortly thereafter was a seductively drab futuristic High Plains Drifter ... on foot ... but that wasn't all, this take on the doomsday scenario is as crisply conceived in its sense-of-self as any that preceded it within the genre, the difference here for me was in the pulse ...
... the broadly drawn, unhurried story developments liberated space between the superhero moments ... allowing time to luxuriate in the visuals and decide how to ... or whether to ... suspend disbelief around the nagging questions and doubts which are inevitable when the baddies are so mindlessly led by malevolence and negativity, to no relatable end ...
... my choice for saviour in this case is the consistently deft craftsman Denzel Washington, who walks the unlikely middle ground between Clint Eastwood and New York Governor David Paterson ... my turn with Vin Diesel et al in The Chronicles Of Riddick gave me first-hand exposure to how an actor manoeuvres behind permanent eyewear ... so, after watching, I can with some confidence, endorse Denzizzy as a past master of the art ...
... the "apres destructo" theme is worth a thought in these times ... so too are the psycho-spiritual constructs which inform the specifics of human morality and conduct ... it's a recipe for success if filmmakers can marry popular entertainment to a contemplation of higher calling ... hence the zen-cool, quick-draw defense of the Christian cornerstone enriches Eli in the same way James Cameron's paleo-astral metaphor for environmental responsibility has turned Avatar into his, and the world's, biggest grossing film ... in effect sinking the Titanic one more time ...
... the strong suit here is the scale and scope of Cameron's effort of course, more an indicator of where we are going than where we have been ...
... the vividly realized world of Pandora is rivalled in this film by subtexts in the shooting script ... the hardly veiled twin-threat of oppression and exploitation have the same familiar feel to them now as they had at the start of the previous decades ... if it is accepted that art mimics life then surely we must interpret the truths at the heart of this blockbuster statement as a cinematic challenge to make adjustments ...
... Jake Sully makes significant moves in his character arc, rejecting the part of himself that was obsolete and embracing that which was concealed behind "cultural" barriers ... why concealed, by whom and for what purpose, is for a different post ...
... "avatar" will become a common word I predict ... first used, then over-used and eventually mis-used, but Earth is our Home Tree and, in the absence of readily available alien life-forms, we get the chance to be our own avatars and merge with our fellow inhabitants ...
... I think that's essentially what Eli's book is trying to tell us too ... and, I must have gotten it across to my son at some point ... or maybe I just remind him of Denzel ... ;-) ...
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