THE BOOK OF ELI

The Book of Eli has been in my queue for quite some time now, getting moved up and down as newer movies came out that I wanted to see.  I finally got a chance to watch this yesterday.  While I enjoyed it overall, it wasn't all that I hoped it would be.  It also has constant religious overtones, that may put off some viewers...

The story centers around Eli (Denzel Washington) and his quest to walk west across a barren, post-apocalyptic earth (Go west young man!).  Broken down cars line the sides of partially demolished roadways, and chaos, thieves, and murder reign supreme.  Eli is a loner.  He wields a machete, guns, a backpack, and is most definitely a badass.

Early in the movie, he comes across a gang that demands that he hand over his belongings, or die.  Such is life in this type of civilization.  Perhaps the best shot in the movie occurs at this point, as an almost comic-book like fight ensues.  The camera is panned back about 50 yards, and the whole scene is shot almost in black and white, all shadows, and is very well done.

As the movie progresses, we encounter Carnegie (Gary Oldman), who's an avid reader and leader (tyrant?) of a small town that looks like something directly out of the wild, wild west.  As we find out, Carnegie is a bad man that wants only to find a very specific book (guess who has said book?), that he insists will change the world.  Here, Oldman (who we last saw as Commissioner Gordon in The Dark Knight) takes a great turn as a villain and does a fine job.

Without giving away too much of the movie, 2 things jumped out at me that I can't shake. First, what was the deal with showing everyone your hands?  "Are you one of them?"  One of who?  Never explained.  And second, how did Eli become a one man wrecking machine? He's like a Bruce Lee/Stallone/Eastwood hybrid.  Apparently, he was just born with this gift.  And 30 years??  30 YEARS!??  That's a long time to be walking around aimlessly.....

Regardless, the movie does have a great surprise/twist ending, that despite constant clues throughout the movie, I never saw coming.  There's also no color until the last 10 minutes or so.  It's not that it's shot in black and white, it's just that everything is dusty, and shades of gray, black and brown.  It's awfully depressing....

 I think that in order to really enjoy a movie, you need to be totally invested in the characters and 'care' about what happens to them.  I really didn't.  Mila Kunis seemed miscast in the movie as well, but did well with what she had to do.

In the end, I didn't love it, but I didn't hate it either.  3 out of 5 stars.