The Book of Eli

Post » Mon Oct 11, 2010 4:13 am

I cant help but feel that The Book of Eli could be just as inciteful into the post-nuclear genre as the Fallout Series. I'm mean look at the trailer below. It has everything but ghouls and super mutants.
Now this isn't all I have to say on the subject, but for now I want to hear your initial opinions on this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKfZrbS79To

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlneJ7W7lAc&feature=related
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Baby K(:
 
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Post » Sun Oct 10, 2010 6:32 pm

Clearly Fallout 3 has influenced this film in a big way.
Identical Fallout landscape: check.
Denzel Washington as Lucas Simms: check.
Gary Oldman as Burke: check.
Raiders: check.

However my initial excitement was quickly deflated when it became clear the film was nothing more than Denzel Washington engaging in cheesy dialogue and over-the-top fight scenes.
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Sakura Haruno
 
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Post » Mon Oct 11, 2010 5:30 am

Clearly Fallout 3 has influenced this film in a big way.
Identical Fallout landscape: check.
Denzel Washington as Lucas Simms: check.
Gary Oldman as Burke: check.
Raiders: check.

Actually those seem to me as pretty standard-established and expected post apocalyptic themes.


However my initial excitement was quickly deflated when it became clear the film was nothing more than Denzel Washington engaging in cheesy dialogue and over-the-top fight scenes.

Ah OK there's the Fallout 3 influence. :whistle:





(that was a little joke fans... no need to burn me at the stake for it :angel: )
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Lil Miss
 
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Post » Sun Oct 10, 2010 4:51 pm

Well, raiders and devestated barren wastelands were pretty well-established post-apocalyptic tropes well before even Fallout 1 came onto the scene - I can't really say that's compelling evidence for Fallout having had any influence on this movie. More likely that they're both drawing from similiar sources.

Other than that, I'll have to wait until I see the movie before I can express any real opinions on what I think of it.
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James Shaw
 
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Post » Mon Oct 11, 2010 3:58 am

the thing that made me shout "FALLOUT" was seeing the broken overpass.
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Josee Leach
 
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Post » Sun Oct 10, 2010 6:38 pm

i will agree that a lot of post-apoc movies have been made.. they all play around central themes. (really all movies do)...

i think visually, what i have seen is reminiscent of F3 through. it may not be a huge thing.. but F3 being the most recent post apaoc thing to come out and be a huge blip on the radar, youd have to think whomever was in charge of the cinimaphotographic effects felt it wouldnt hurt to play into the demographic of F3 fans.
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Suzie Dalziel
 
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Post » Sun Oct 10, 2010 7:30 pm

I agree that the imagery of the film is Fallout influenced: The broken bridges and overpasses, the washed out colour palate, the look of the raiders. Some of the scenes of Eli walking alone down the road are reminiscent of Fallout concept art.

But it is also clearly NOT fallout; no 50ies style cars and decor, less guns, bows and arrows, no mutants or ghouls, no BoS or Enclave and cars that work.

It's not had great reviews either, maybe it might have been a better film if it had been based more closely on the FO universe...
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Albert Wesker
 
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Post » Sun Oct 10, 2010 7:42 pm

i thing i see the same is the lanscape
apart from that nothing the same

why do people think it a fallout 3 film
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Music Show
 
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Post » Sun Oct 10, 2010 4:36 pm

The things that people keep pointing to as similiar (broken overpasses, washed-out color palette, lots of desert, etc,) are things I don't find terribly particular to Fallout, in general. Sure, Fallout has all of those things, too - but so does literally anything post-apocalyptic in the first place. I saw an article over on G4 talking about the similarities between Book of Eli and Fallout 3; and he seemed to have came to the same conclusion - it's far more likely that both are coming from the same sets of influences rather than that one has any clear influence over the other.

On the other hand, apparently the director or writer of the movie (or something) has a bit of a background in videogames; so I wouldn't rule out some of the art direction being influenced by playing Fallout, etc. Sure, Fallout as a whole has been a popular game, with a unique spin on an aesthetic that was pretty well established by the time Fallout 1 came out - it's not impossible that it's going to influence other works in the same genre.

On the other hand - I was already a bit of sci-fi nerd with a real affinity towards the post-apocalyptic genre well before Fallout 1, even (which is what drew me to the game in the first place, back then.) The only thing that really speaks to me as unavoidably Fallout is it's particular retro look. Without that specific styling, any time I see a new post-apocalyptic movie or game; I'm more likely to be reminded of A Boy and His Dog, or (of course) Mad Max more than I am to think it's got any clear connection to Fallout.

If there comes a time where I see a movie coming out that looks like it's set in the post-apocalyptic remains of a utopian society as envisioned by pulp writers of the 1950's - then I'll be the first to go "Hey, that looks a lot like Fallout!" But other than that, it's going to take more than a crumbling overpass (which isn't terribly specific to Fallout in the first place,) to make me see an definitive connection.
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Rik Douglas
 
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Post » Mon Oct 11, 2010 8:37 am

The things that people keep pointing to as similiar (broken overpasses, washed-out color palette, lots of desert, etc,) are things I don't find terribly particular to Fallout, in general. Sure, Fallout has all of those things, too - but so does literally anything post-apocalyptic in the first place. I saw an article over on G4 talking about the similarities between Book of Eli and Fallout 3; and he seemed to have came to the same conclusion - it's far more likely that both are coming from the same sets of influences rather than that one has any clear influence over the other.

On the other hand, apparently the director or writer of the movie (or something) has a bit of a background in videogames; so I wouldn't rule out some of the art direction being influenced by playing Fallout, etc. Sure, Fallout as a whole has been a popular game, with a unique spin on an aesthetic that was pretty well established by the time Fallout 1 came out - it's not impossible that it's going to influence other works in the same genre.

On the other hand - I was already a bit of sci-fi nerd with a real affinity towards the post-apocalyptic genre well before Fallout 1, even (which is what drew me to the game in the first place, back then.) The only thing that really speaks to me as unavoidably Fallout is it's particular retro look. Without that specific styling, any time I see a new post-apocalyptic movie or game; I'm more likely to be reminded of A Boy and His Dog, or (of course) Mad Max more than I am to think it's got any clear connection to Fallout.

If there comes a time where I see a movie coming out that looks like it's set in the post-apocalyptic remains of a utopian society as envisioned by pulp writers of the 1950's - then I'll be the first to go "Hey, that looks a lot like Fallout!" But other than that, it's going to take more than a crumbling overpass (which isn't terribly specific to Fallout in the first place,) to make me see an definitive connection.


All true but, the colour palate in particular, the washed out browns, beiges and pale greys, to me they seem distinctively Fallout. The other big post-apocalyptic film out at present, "The Road", doesn't have those same colours. The Mad Max films had the same colours, but that's because Fallout itself was influenced by Mad Max.
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Ruben Bernal
 
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Post » Mon Oct 11, 2010 7:48 am

the barren, desert-like landscape is as crucial to anything pertaining to post-apocalyptia as enchanted forests and evil dungeons are to a fantasy setting.

what makes fallout unique is the characters, factions and alternate/parallel timeline...not the wasteland.
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naome duncan
 
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Post » Sun Oct 10, 2010 7:53 pm

the barren, desert-like landscape is as crucial to anything pertaining to post-apocalyptia...


From what I've seen of "The Road" (I've only seen the trailer, not the film), it seems to be set mainly in forests and suburbia.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbLgszfXTAY&feature=related
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Lauren Denman
 
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Post » Mon Oct 11, 2010 3:36 am

reading all this made me curious I'll go watch it now =) And I did read that article in G4 too which made me think that the writer might've tried to cash in on the existing appealing assets of FO while making the movie more mainstream and therefore more profitable.
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Blaine
 
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Post » Mon Oct 11, 2010 3:20 am

All true but, the colour palate in particular, the washed out browns, beiges and pale greys, to me they seem distinctively Fallout. The other big post-apocalyptic film out at present, "The Road", doesn't have those same colours. The Mad Max films had the same colours, but that's because Fallout itself was influenced by Mad Max.

So like I said - Fallout's color palette being influenced by that of Mad Max (and other memorable post-apocalyptic movies, as well;) and from what I've seen of Book of Eli's, points to convergent influences (to my mind) more than it does anything directly following from Fallout 3. :)

Of course this all pretty speculative on my part until I've actually seen the movie, and not just a couple of previews and promotional materials.
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Bones47
 
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Post » Sun Oct 10, 2010 4:29 pm

For those of you that didn't notice, there was a movie poster for "A Boy and His Dog" in the hotel room that Eli slept in when in the town.

"http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072730/" was an influence on Fallout, and apparently this movie as well. But perhaps it was just a tip of the hat to the old movie.
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R.I.P
 
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Post » Sun Oct 10, 2010 5:28 pm

Just saw this

SPOILER ALERT


Spoiler
The people in Alcatraz are so close to the BoS just missing power armor!

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Lyndsey Bird
 
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Post » Mon Oct 11, 2010 3:39 am

So like I said - Fallout's color palette being influenced by that of Mad Max (and other memorable post-apocalyptic movies, as well;) and from what I've seen of Book of Eli's, points to convergent influences (to my mind) more than it does anything directly following from Fallout 3. :)

Of course this all pretty speculative on my part until I've actually seen the movie, and not just a couple of previews and promotional materials.


Point taken. :)

Unfortunately what I have seen (i.e. the trailers) haven't tempted me to see the film, it seems a bit generic and derivative, although I do like Gary Oldman. I'm happy to wait 6 months until it comes out on DVD.


For those of you that didn't notice, there was a movie poster for "A Boy and His Dog" in the hotel room that Eli slept in when in the town.

"http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072730/" was an influence on Fallout, and apparently this movie as well. But perhaps it was just a tip of the hat to the old movie.


I'm guessing that the poster is just a homage to "A Boy and his Dog". I've just watched the trailer for it on IMDB, it looks like a weird film. And the dog looks nothing like Dogmeat. :D
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Nicola
 
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Post » Sun Oct 10, 2010 7:27 pm

soon someone will try and convince us that FO3 influenced Mad Max or something.

give it up people, not every movie is based on Fallout 3.
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Love iz not
 
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Post » Sun Oct 10, 2010 11:35 pm

I'm playing Saints Row 2 right now, and just saw a billboard for Book of Eli in-game. And Saints Row 2 came out last spring. I guess Xbox Live updates the game with real world ads or something.
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Kim Bradley
 
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Post » Mon Oct 11, 2010 5:06 am

I'm guessing that the poster is just a homage to "A Boy and his Dog". I've just watched the trailer for it on IMDB, it looks like a weird film. And the dog looks nothing like Dogmeat. :D

Dogmeat's sort of a collection of a couple of different influences, in Fallout. The game itself certainly owes a lot to both A Boy and his Dog, and Mad Max, equally. And both movies had canine companions. In-game, Dogmeat looks a bit more like Mad Max's dog; but the name itself comes directly from A Boy and His Dog.
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Dezzeh
 
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Post » Sun Oct 10, 2010 4:46 pm

I went to see this film, it's quite good.
Their was a lot of reference to Fallout.
Denzel:
Spoiler
I fighted the good fight, and won.

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Alexis Estrada
 
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Post » Mon Oct 11, 2010 1:37 am

another question is whether the movie will influence fallout 4, ie. references and easter eggs like the mad max ones. I wouldnt mind if they made a tribute to the knives denzel uses. The idea of religion hadnt really been explored in the series except the tribals and treeminders and the churches in rivet city and megaton. It may turn out the FO4 might elevate religion to a new level with it starting wars and rebellions. I felt like it might be in the future because the Broken Steel DLC brought up Megaton's anger towards the Temple of Light(?) and them radiating the purified water. It may be that the developers might have forshadowed that religion still greatly effects the wastelanders whether negatively or positively. The concept of religion being used as a means to obtain power is completely logical which is why i havent dropped the idea of it being explored in a future game yet
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GLOW...
 
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Post » Sun Oct 10, 2010 7:44 pm

another question is whether the movie will influence fallout 4, ie. references and easter eggs like the mad max ones. I wouldnt mind if they made a tribute to the knives denzel uses. The idea of religion hadnt really been explored in the series except the tribals and treeminders and the churches in rivet city and megaton. It may turn out the FO4 might elevate religion to a new level with it starting wars and rebellions. I felt like it might be in the future because the Broken Steel DLC brought up Megaton's anger towards the Temple of Light(?) and them radiating the purified water. It may be that the developers might have forshadowed that religion still greatly effects the wastelanders whether negatively or positively. The concept of religion being used as a means to obtain power is completely logical which is why i havent dropped the idea of it being explored in a future game yet


I like the part where Eli goes to trade with that guy and they barter instead of using a currency, way more realistic

Now I don't think fallout 4 will just scrap the cap system, but I'd like to see more barter situations (such as trading technology for supplies with the outcasts in FO3)
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Post » Sun Oct 10, 2010 9:29 pm

I'm playing Saints Row 2 right now, and just saw a billboard for Book of Eli in-game. And Saints Row 2 came out last spring. I guess Xbox Live updates the game with real world ads or something.


You'll see stuff like that in a number of games. I believe the billboards in Crackdown have new movies from time to time. Also playing Madden, you'll see new ads for movies, EA promotions, etc. With Fallout 3, we don't have anything like that -- real world ads would be a big conflict with the alt universe of the game.
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Zosia Cetnar
 
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Post » Mon Oct 11, 2010 4:17 am

He has a beard that looks pretty "Fallouty". Hahaha.
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Charles Mckinna
 
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