On January 11, 2010, the premiere of a fantastic post-apocalyptic action film with thriller elements called “The Book of Eli”. At first glance, it may seem that the film does not fit the theme of the site, but, as it turned out, this is not entirely true. Having learned a few technical details about it, I decided to present to your attention Mark Pollard’s review, or rather, the part dedicated to martial arts and fighting techniques, since in general the article consists of a huge number of spoilers that can ruin your experience of watching the film.
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Eli is a typical samurai/cowboy, a hero with nerves of steel who wields a machete, shotgun, pistol and bow with equal dexterity. He, like a Japanese with a sword, is able to cleanly cut off the heads of enemies and shoot like a hero of the Wild West.
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As for choreographer Jeff Imada, the man behind the powerful fight sequences in the Bourne trilogy, his work in this film took the elaborate and spectacular on-screen combat used for self-defense to a whole new level. I used the term "self-defense" to refer to the actual fighting that Imada and his mentor specialize in. A former student of Bruce Lee, Inosanto became a well-known and respected master in the martial arts world, a master who trained in styles ranging from Jeet Kune Do to Filipino Kali and Eskrima. He was hired to train Washington for six months before filming The Book of Eli.
Denzel Washington, 55, might be a bit of a latecomer to playing the martial arts hero, but he must have been training hard because he looks pretty deadly on screen. The type of combat used by the main character significantly improves the effect. It's more about efficiency than style. Imada's on-screen fighting technique is the direct opposite of the physical skill-dependent, action-oriented modern wushu used by Jet Li and the simplified version of Chinese opera kung fu used by Jackie Chan. The difference lies in the absence of demonstrative movements. In wushu and kung fu, movements are often overly emphasized and sweeping, while Imada's on-screen fights are closer to the actions of street fighters, they are dense, and every blow thrown counts. In this case, when there are no rules, kill or be killed, such a fighting technique is exactly what Eli needs to survive. I definitely see on screen a cautious, well-trained man in good physical condition in his 50s who can actually hold his own against the killers who appear in the film. And the Hughes brothers took liberties and added a fair amount of fights to the picture, in which Eli faces numerous opponents.
My only wish would have been to see more of the film's Miyamoto Musashi-style approach to fighting, where Eli would use tactics and the environment to his advantage. Anyone who lived to be 50 years old in this wasteland would need more than just quick reflexes to defeat their enemies.
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Author: Mark Pollard
Source: kungfucinema.com
Translation: EvilDollaR
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Tags: The Book Of Eli, Denzel Washington, Jeff Imada, Dan Inosanto
Tags: The Book Of Eli, Denzel Washington, Jeff Imada, Dan Inosanto
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