Post-apocalyptic movies, faith-based movies, and big twist ending movies all have one thing in common: they're extremely hard to pull off. You've seen (or luckily avoided seeing) some of the failures of each category: The Postman, the Left Behind series, The Village, etc. A film with one or more of these elements automatically invites harsh scrutiny because when they're done poorly they are twice as painful as your ordinary bad movie. Book of Eli is so audacious as to have all three: it's post-apocalyptic, it deals with themes of faith, and it involves a twist (that's as much detail as we'll give about that). And while it's not going to change your life, or make you reconsider the nature of the human condition, it is a solid action movie with some great sequences that doesn't make you sick with rage as to just how bad it is.
The first thing that jumps out at you is the world-building on display here. The Hughes brothers patiently reveal to us a world 30 years after a nuclear holocaust. The roads are abandoned, the buildings fallen to ruins, and everything is shot in grays, browns and reds, giving the feeling that nothing is truly alive in this world. The ugliness is almost beautiful to look at. As for the people, they're desperate and willing to do anything to survive – including murder and cannibalize their fellow survivors. We see our protagonist, Eli (Denzel Washington), as he travels across barren desert, following the highways that were once the healthy, pumping veins of society.
At night, Eli camps out in abandoned buildings, eats small game to survive and reads from a copy of one of the few remaining books, something that comes to be a key element of the story. Eli witnesses terrible atrocities as the strong terrorize, murder and feed on the weak. Very early on we know how much Eli wants to help, but also that he can't because he has a higher calling: “Stay on the path,” he tells himself in horror as he hides and listens to the sounds of innocents murdered by roving gangs. This scene draws us in, makes us identify with Eli, but also raises a big question: what path is he on? What's his higher calling, and will he fulfill it? This is the grand question of the movie.
We begin to get the answer when he himself is ambushed by a pack of starving cannibals. They have weapons and numbers, but Eli dispatches them almost too easily. The stylized action is fun to watch and intense, and sets up Eli as a powerful fighter with rare determination. Washington plays a compelling protagonist, a master at making a character identifiable through his own charm, and that's on display here. We get the feeling that there is a higher power on his side, protecting him, and we never waver from wanting him to fulfill his calling. That becomes much harder when Eli comes across a rare town and immediately makes an enemy of its corrupt sheriff/ruler, Carnegie (played by Gary Oldman). Carnegie rules with an iron fist (and a band of armed thugs) and is obsessed with finding a copy of a certain book. So when he hears Eli clings to his tome for dear life, he immediately wonders if it's the one he's looking for.
The story gets on it's feet when Carnegie confirms that Eli does indeed have the book. Eli holds tight to it, determined to take it where his faith leads him at any cost. And Carnegie will stop at nothing – neither murder nor the sacrifice of his men – to get it. Eli explains that nearly all books have been destroyed (people blamed religion for the war and burnt all holy texts to prevent it from happening again), and thus his might be the only one left. Carnegie understands the power the words will have over people, and plans to use it to gain control over the uneducated masses and build his empire.
What follows is a tense series of shootouts, chases and hand-to-hand battles with a light sprinkling of religious theme. A great strength of the movie is that it's able to reference the religious aspects of the story and use them to propel the plot without making the story built around faith. This is a movie about survival, morality, perseverance and action, not the heady nature of spirituality. Although it's not nearly as well-written, original, or enjoyable as The Matrix, it strikes a similar balance between hectic action and a heavy theme. In both, the theme plays its role well and gets out of the way quickly when it's time for a fight sequence. For examples of what can go wrong when theme oversteps its boundaries in an action movie, see The Matrix Reloaded and Matrix Revolutions.
Washington and Oldman carry the story on their backs admirably, turning in solid lead performances. Supporting, Jennifer Beals plays Carnegie's blind mistress. There's some interesting ambiguity here about how willingly or unwillingly she's with Carnegie. At times it seems clear she's a slave, and at others there's tenderness between them. The softer side of Carnegie we see with her definitely adds depth to the villain. Additionally, Ray Stevenson plays a pretty good 2nd in command to Carnegie. Mila Kunis plays Solara, the major supporting role to Denzel's Eli. Although the character is written to reflect off Eli and provide a catalyst for the change he goes through during the story, Kunis feels wildly miscast and sticks out like a sore thumb through most of the movie. (One scene towards the end is particularly laughable through no fault of her own.) Overall, though, Book of Eli is an enjoyable ride (or walk) through a decently well-drawn post-apocalyptic world and definitely worth a viewing.
Blu-ray Bonus Features
There are some pretty cool featurettes exploring the directorial choices, Denzel's role in the production, and how they achieved the style of the movie (they actually hired graphic novel artists to do storyboards and inspiration art for the movie). There are also some interesting pieces on the mythological references behind the story and the science of rebuilding society after an apocalypse. The Blu-ray also includes a DVD/Digital Copy disc.
"Book of Eli" is on sale June 15, 2010 and is rated R. Action, Sci-Fi. Directed by Albert Hughes, Allen Hughes. Written by Gary Whitta. Starring Denzel Washington, Gary Oldman, Jennifer Beals, Mila Kunis, Ray Stevenson.
