Denzel Washington: Book of ELI

Despite mixed reviews from critics , ELI has scored so far with movie audiences , coming in #2 with $38 million over the four-day holiday weekend after James Cameron unstoppable "Avatar; ELI even bumped Avatar off first for 0ne-day totals on Friday. The $38 million haul is the second highest in Washington's three decade career, behind only 2007's American Gangster, and by far the Hughes brothers highest earner period,( not just opening weekend) to date. If word of mouth continues to grow among religious audiences, ELI should soldier on to easily break the $100 million mark.
Let's sum up the biblical themes in "ELI" (spoilers ahead!)
In a dystopian United States nearly devoid of water and food, a well armed Eli walks the barren landscape " by faith not by sight." He has one goal: to head West with the world's only remaining Bible ( a King James version, to be precise) He believes he has been called by a " voice in his head" to deliver the Bible to the right hands qnd futher believes he's supernaturally protected from harm while on his prophetic mission.Yes , he kills a whole heckuva lot of people, but everyone he offs pretty much deserves his wrath (rapists, cannibals, thieves, killers), and he definitely seem invincible. Eli can quote entire passages of Scripture without so much as a stutter.
I'm really going to be interested to see how this move plays out with Christians, says Paul Asay, associate editor of "Fous" on the "family's Plugged In," an entertainment site for evangelical Christians. My guess is that evangelical leaders will have a difficult time fully embracing the film, but a lot of actual evangelicals will go.
Even though crities like The New York Post's Kyle Smith have called The Book of Eli a "Christian Blockbuster, the problem is the films's at-times gruesome violence ( dismemberment , rape, blood spatter) and standard R-rated language (nothing that would make Quentin Tarantino or Kevin Smith fans blush, but still the usual F-bombs). considering there are religious movergoers who think "Pixer and Harry Potter" movies are inapproprate, the body count in "Eli" may keep even curious devout audiences away.
On the other hand, star-and-producer Washington's cred in the Christian community ( Washington's the son of a Pentecostal pastor and outspoken about his faith -- coming in at # 2 in Beliefnet's list of the most powerful Christians in Hollywood) coupled with the story's explicit spirituality is likely to make R-shy viewers of faith reconsider.
After all," The Passion of Christ"(made by the most powerful Christian in Hollywood, Mel Gibson) was rated "R" too.
My take on this movie: I will definitely see the movie "Eli" and make up my own mind... My PIC and I just love us some Denzel.
Kicking back and having fun.