Z-Bo and Eli, Denzel's character, are eerily similar. Throughout the movie, I was confused as to whether Eli could actually see or not, for he constantly bumped into tables, searched things out with his hands, and displayed superhuman senses of hearing and smell, sniffing out ambushers and locating a bird through the sound of the fluttering of its wings. Watching Randolph haphazardly drive to the hoop and seemingly randomly throw up shots, I am often confused in much the same way as to if he ever looks at the basket. He bulls his way wildly through the lane, looking at the ground, into the stands, at the basketball, in the general direction of the scantily clad Grizz Girls, and almost every other area of the Forum except for the basket, but always seems to score. Clearly he is using one of his senses other than sight to locate his target. As well as not using sight, both have the agility and strength of much younger men. Eli was a young man when the great war happened 31 years before the story, so he is into his late forties or early fifties, but he routinely takes down groups of 10-15 men who are at least half his age. Z-Bo's knees have untold milage on them, and he is almost an old man in NBA years, but he is averaging somewhere in the area of 20 points and 11 rebounds for the season.
If Z-Bo is Eli, then Lionel Hollins is clearly God. God has given Eli clear instructions and a vision of how to achieve success, telling him to head West to safety and protect the Bible from all those who should stand in his way. To help Eli, God gives him constant encouragement and protection. Hollins has given Randolph and the Grizz a recipe for success, telling them to play defense and share the ball, and as a result of their obedience, Memphis is winning and performing far better than anyone thought that they could. Because they have listened to him, Hollins has fought on their behalf with the refs and the media and has been a players coach, allowing them to continue to gamble on the plane despite the recent downfall of Gilbert Arenas.
Gay is like Solara, Mila Kunis' character. Solara was lost before Eli and God came to her. She was destined to be nothing more than the prettiest girl in a post-apocalyptic hell-hole of a town and married off to the villain's evil head henchman. Similarly, Gay was stuck in hell, destined to be nothing more than the best player for a forgotten small-market team at the bottom of the league. After receiving their positive influences, both of their lives have markedly improved, as Gay makes Sportscenter and is being talked about as an upcoming big-time free-agent and Solara made it to safety at Alcatraz(this makes sense if you've seen the movie, trust me).
Kevin Durant is the head henchman. Durant is playing for a team that should be hated by all serious basketball fans for what they did to their loyal fan base in Seattle, killing that which Seattleans held most dear, but he does everything that he can to be likable. He's young, he's hungry, he's charismatic, but he's still a force for evil. Likewise, the henchman may not be a terrible person in a different situation. He shows tons of potential as he does not fire on Eli as he is exiting town, he fights for the welfare of Solara, and he dies somewhat nobly. However, he kills untold amounts of innocent people at the instruction of the villain(as Durant hurts Seattle residents with each top-10 play that he makes and each stride that he takes toward superstardom at the instruction of Clay Bennett).
The villain is Clay Bennett. Both are evil, both have hidden motives, both just suck in general. The villain put a town where a town had no business being, manipulating untold masses, employing evil doers, raping and pillaging a population with the ultimate goal of world domination. Bennett manipulated the city of Seattle and the NBA, he stole from them a storied franchise and placed it in that post-apocalyptic hell hole that is Oklahoma with the ultimate goal of world domination. Unlike the villain, had Bennett been trying convince Eli to hand over the Bible, he would have been successful. He would have fleeced over God just as he pulled the wool over David Stern's eyes in moving the Sonics to the dust bowl. Basically he is the purest form of evil currently in the league, as the villain is the purest evil that is in the movie.
Some of the comparisons may be a bit shaky and poorly explained, but it made sense to me. Go Grizzlies. Go Memphis. I believe.
Big Shot
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