Review of Eli
Netflix
The premise is a young boy, Eli, has a disease that makes him vulnerable to … basically everything. He lives in a plastic bubble or a HAZMAT suit. His parents have taken him to a mysterious doctor who promises she can heal him with her radical stem-cell therapy. But as Eli’s health gets worse despite (or because of) her treatment, he starts to wonder if anything is really what it seems.
I enjoyed it. It had a good beginning, a normal progression of suspense, and at the end there was a great twist.
Favorite character: Eli
Favorite scene: the last fifteen minutes of the movie. I won’t give too much away, but a person’s head implodes. Not explodes, implodes.
Favorite line: I didn’t have a favorite line in particular. But I did enjoy the subtle lying that permeates the entire movie. It begins right away, instantly letting you know how un-trust worthy everyone is. From the mother promising her son he will be cured to the father standing up saying, “I promise we will be right here, we won’t move from this spot” as Eli is led away for his first treatment. The parent’s desire to comfort their son pushes them to be dishonest, which actually cranks up Eli’s feelings of uncertainty (and adds to the suspense for the viewer).
Gore level: there was the normal ghost horror movie stuff, girl in ratty nightgown with black hair covering her face as she contorts and twists her body in unnatural angles. (Was this a trope before The Ring? I wonder… or was it only a trope in Japanese horror?) As I mentioned before there were heads imploding and such, but nothing that made my skin crawl. Having said that, there are some scary scenes depicting medical procedures and the cold indifference that doctors can have. If you are about to go in for surgery, you might want to consider saving this movie until afterwards.
Rey Wright 