The Book of Eli and the Fourth Kind Make a Thought Provoking Evening

Red Box has increased our time in front of the small screen. These busy boxes dole out dozens of films for only a dollar a day so even if you pick a loser, you aren't out much. We ride our bikes to the closest Red Box, find a film and plan an evening of great entertainment. Sometimes it doesn't work out that way, sometimes it does. This time the selection provided some good entertainment and some fodder for conversation.

"The Book of Eli"

The evening started with "The Book of Eli." The plot was relatively simple. The world was almost destroyed by a flash. One man has a mission to travel West to deliver a book. Along the way, he meets gangs, a spunky girl, a blind woman, a greedy man and a host of others. While it might have been simple, it has a surprise ending that makes you sit up and say, "I didn't see that coming!"

I could watch adult diaper commercials if they had Denzel Washington in them. Luckily, this man always chooses great movies and roles. Therefore, when you see him starring in a film, you know it will be better than average and potentially great. This one was on the level of great. While the story is interesting and entertaining, the story beneath the story is even more thought provoking. It's set in the future where there remains only one powerful book. The rest of its kind have been destroyed. Only one of them exists and Washington has it. He heard a voice and is carrying the book to a destination West. The voice said it would protect him and it does. It also tells him not to worry because it will lead him. It does that also.

The story beneath the story is the conflict between the evil man Carnagie, played by Gary Oldman, trying to take the powerful book because it contains power and he believes he can control the masses if he has it. It's also about the eradication of the book and the condition of humanity when that occurs. To tell you how it rings close to society would give away the name of the book which is kept a secret until the middle of the film. Once you know what it is, you'll immediately make a connection to what is occuring today and the film.

While some of the characters are a little over the top, there's still great acting in the film. Mila Kunis plays Solara who was blind from birth. Her daughter Claudia is the saucy 20 something that decides to travel with Eli (Washington) to his destination. Both are superior in their roles, Just as Oldman and Washington, they remain in character throughout the film and are believable.

My two favorite minor characters are George and Martha. If you've seen "Alice in Wonderland," the 2010 version, you'll recognize Martha as played by Frances de la Tour. She played Aunt Imogene in "Alice." George is Michael Gambon. These oldsters manage to survive everything together and live a relatively civilized life. I identified with the two, except they definately aren't vegetarian.

This thought provoking film receives a No Snooze rating in my book. There was no nodding off or even trips to fill our plates throughout the film. It comes highly recommended.

"The Fourth Kind"

The second film was a snoozer and ultimately proved a looser. It was unbearably slow and dragged throughout the movie. The film is more of a documentary than a movie, except, it doesn't have real footage just "Hollywood footage" to back it up. It states it contains actual footage from the archives of a psychologist but as I did the reseasch for this article, realized that the person in what I thought was documentary, was also considered a star in the movie. The documentaries are not real. The doctor is portrayed by two different women. The movie woman is Milla Jovovich who plays Abbey Taylor. The documentary Abbey Taylor is Charlotte Milchard. Until I started this review and did a little background search, I didn't realize that the documentary clips were nothing more than Hollywood.

While the story might be based on some real life events, the deception used and lack of entertainment value of the movie makes me give it a super snooze. Even Red Bull couldn't keep Mike awake. I'm still ticked that I was tricked by the producers in believing the documentaries were real. Does that make them well presented or simply make me gullible. I hate to admit it but I think it's the second one.

Why would I believe this? Part of my belief came from the fact that the movie was so badly done that it had to be real. It seemed like the producer was trying to show you it really happened but failed in making it entertaining. In reality, it didn't happen and still failed to be entertaining. The premise, however, does follow some of my belief in who God is, where he came from and the origin of civilization. I have yet to put everything together but I do believe that there is a God and that Christ was his son. Where God comes from and why he said, "Thou shall have no other gods before me," if there were no other beings such as him, is still a mystery. (I already know the false idol theory so please refrain from reminding me of that. I don't buy it.)

Both films were thought provoking and started dialogue. One did it through a good script, good directing and acting. The other through deception. Even though "The Fourth Kind" was deceptive, somewhere in the movie, there is some fodder for thought and conversation. The dollar we paid to see it was too much, however.