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The Book of Eli

Review By: Ryan Hamelin
RyanHamelin@TheCinemaSource.com

Movie Grade: A-

To start with, I don’t consider myself to be a very religious person. I’ve always valued The Bible more for the societal and cultural lessons it teaches, and at its most interesting, a collection of compelling short stories. The power of religion over the centuries has a lot more to do with the way human beings, individuals, twist the words to suit their ends, and the institutions that we refer to as “religion” now have very little to do with the inherent energy of their source materials. It should be no secret at this point that the titular book in question is, in fact, a Bible, and the way the book is treated by our lead character, as well as the reactions it inspires in others, is the central core of this film. If that seems like heady stuff for a post-apocalyptic action flick, don’t be alarmed. It’s what we like to call going above the common denominator. If you think you can handle it, you’ll find that it makes for a much more satisfying movie-going experience than plenty of the idiotic popcorn fare entering the marketplace in the coming months.

The Hughes Brothers haven’t made a film in a long time. A lot of that has to do with the studio system butchering their last film, From Hell starring Johnny Depp. They took time off to develop their next project, and if this is what they can do when they don’t have to deal with overwhelming studio interference, it certainly shows. Denzel Washington has played many parts over the years. He’s even created the kind of wise-ass speed talking persona that has lead to an Oscar as well as type casting. Here he plays a man of few words, and embodies an entirely different character than any of his previous films. He’s the ultimate badass, a post-apocalyptic samurai in a lot of ways. His conviction shines through in every scene and if nothing else, you believe in him.

It also helps that after he was cast and the production began the search for an antagonist, Washington requested only one man for the part. That man was none other than Gary Oldman, who is, naturally, phenomenal. He rules his little town well enough, but in his efforts to expand, he needs words to inspire the townsfolk in ways that he could never provide. His needs for the Book fall at odds to Eli’s, bringing the central conflict into sharp relief. At that point, I challenge anyone to guess what’ll happen next.

The cliché and convention of the story should be visually apparent to a potential viewer from a TV commercial. The black, white, and brown color palette was already old when it was featured in the Mad Max films, and it doesn’t help Eli’s case that The Road was released only a handful of ...