Denzel is the coolest man at the end of the world
When I was at the coffee shop the other day, I was talking about movies. (What, me? Talk about movies? Never!) I forget how I got on this subject, but eventually it all came around to The Book of Eli. I mentioned that I reviewed it for Den of Geek and mentioned how, five years ago, it’d be a Wesley Snipes movie. And it’s true. I mentioned that in my review, as well. (I also called the movie Mad Blax, as in the blaxploitation Mad Max, even if the movie and character of Eli are colorblind.)
Either way, I think pretty much any B-quality movie (which Eli is just because of its setting) can be improved with the presence of quality actors who are willing to slum it a little. Hence Denzel as Eli. Gary Oldman, while a fine actor, is always willing to slum it in a B-style movie (see his long history of working with Luc Besson), so he doesn’t count for this discussion. His style of villain is always appreciated.
This topic smells like an article idea, so if you have any good suggestions for A-list actors in B-movie roles, please suggest them below. I could use some help on this one from the collective Internet Braintrust.
Tags: Den of Geek, Denzel Washington, movie reviews, post-apocalyptic movies, Shameless Self Promotion, The Book of Eli
January 22nd, 2010 at 9:03 am
Morgan Freeman
January 24th, 2010 at 2:59 am
I thought B movies were because of funding, not setting. I’ve been thinking of your question for a couple of days now, since I read this the first time. (It’s about my fourth read now.)
January 28th, 2010 at 1:04 pm
Well, B movies are for funding, not setting, but there are a lot of settings that are really common in B movies because they’re cheap. Like, in this case, post apocalyptic movies. Eli cost $80 million, but it could’ve been made for nothing if they hadn’t used big actors. Denzel alone probably cost $20 million!