It opens in a forest with debris falling all around and a blue haze filling the screen. A hairless feline with long legs arrives to taste a human corpse as Denzel Washington's character, Eli, a bit higher in the food chain, hunts the odd looking cat. Picturesque scenes like this pervade "The Book of Eli", sometimes giving you a sense that Denzel is pausing for postcard moments. But the gray clouds overhead give you hints about the desolate, futuristic atmosphere.
Eli (Denzel Washington) walks alone, always to the west, and against many little tests of his courage to stay on the path. His fighting skills help. He's a grand master of the short sword, but luckily very few bullets exist to nullify his specialty. The first group of thieves have a rotund guy with a chainsaw, perhaps right out of the "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" movies, but he's not much of a match for Eli's dexterity and instincts. It's like a video game as the body count increases and the bad guys make light of the carnage. But it also has quiet moments as Eli seeks shelter. He exchanges boots with a dead guy and listens to his iPod.
Eli stops at a local gang-town to recharge his iPod and find water. Carnegie (Gary Oldman), the town chieftain, becomes interested after he sees Eli's combat skills. He sends a female companion, Solara (Mila Kunis), who he holds captive with threats to her blind mother Claudia (Jennifer Beals), to convince him to stay. But Eli is difficult to crack. He's principled, strong willed, and gifted almost with supernatural abilities. Bullets seem to just miss him, and he finds mysterious ways to sneak away.
Oddly enough, Carnegie seems passionate for Claudia, but business takes priority as he desperately searches for a book of some sort. (It certainly isn't "The DaVinci Code" since we see him tell his henchman to burn it, along with a few Oprah magazines.) He wants more power and territory, and the book will help bend people to his will. You might remember Carnegie's #1 henchman (Ray Stevenson) from the popular HBO series "Rome", in which he played Titus Pullo, a dim witted behemoth of a fighter. Here he plays a smart adviser who stands to the side and barks orders to Eli. You need strong men like him to keep order in this environment.
Along the way, Eli becomes friends with Solara (Mila Kunis). He teaches her to pray before eating, and she helps him find a secret water source. He's suspicious of her at first since he doesn't want to be drawn into Carnegie's clutches, but she keeps running into him and they share in a few of the massive bullet exchanges in the third act. Carnegie discovers that Eli has the book and comes after him with all his men, firing a rocket at him and unloading all the ammo of a Gatling gun.
The third act strays a bit from the carefully crafted first parts. But it's still fun to watch. The dark sarcasm finally works. Just before the big shoot out, Eli discovers a husband and wife duo of survivalist cannibals. What an odd team they become as Eli and Solara join the two cannibals against Carnegie in a good old fashioned bullet fest! But, unfortunately, the film has strange explanations against cannibalism as if it feels the need to demonize it (any cannibal rights activists outraged yet?): Eli identifies cannibals from their shakes and perhaps from their fingernails. If so, why doesn't the husband shake too? Is this also why the townspeople keep asking to see Eli's fingers before they do business with him? Does a cannibal get the shakes and bad fingernails? The film, directed by the Hughes Brothers ("From Hell", "Dead Presidents", "Menace II Society"), is difficult to compare to any one kind of film. It's like a silent "Mad Max" in that it takes place post apocalypse and features a rouge man demolishing any thieves or gang members that disturb his path. Yet he's on foot most often and we don't see nearly as many loud automobile chases. It's similar to "The Road" or "I Am Legend" in that it focuses on a survival story, and Eli (Denzel Washington) is reduced to basic subsistence and self defense in a lawless future. He hunts for food, looks for water (a precious commodity), and tries to keep his iPod charged. But he doesn't contend with vampires or mutants, and he's more of a super ninja warrior, who slashes his enemies to pieces.
In a cruel, mostly illiterate, and unforgiving world, Eli walks alone as the last symbol of moral certitude and resilience. It takes great courage for him pass up a chance to take revenge on a group of thieves as they attack an innocent couple in the distance. He's one of the rare few able to master his inner desires to fulfill a greater purpose, especially rare in a movie of this scale and for mainstream consumption.
He stands for the preservation of a nearly extinct set of beliefs, all wrote down in a book he carries around with him (the last of its kind). He reads it everyday, but he barely needs to keep reading since most of it pulses through his memory so loudly he can recite lengthy portions. The film is a parable perhaps about worries that traditional beliefs might go out of circulation if individuals stop studying, reading, and remembering their literary and important teachings in the book that Eli carries. Morality, of the sort the movie prefers, must be internalized for it to become truly and faithfully resilient against external forces. You have to watch the movie to find out the book Eli wants to protect, and hopefully his memory is really good because much will depend on it.
Eli (Denzel Washington) walks alone, always to the west, and against many little tests of his courage to stay on the path. His fighting skills help. He's a grand master of the short sword, but luckily very few bullets exist to nullify his specialty. The first group of thieves have a rotund guy with a chainsaw, perhaps right out of the "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" movies, but he's not much of a match for Eli's dexterity and instincts. It's like a video game as the body count increases and the bad guys make light of the carnage. But it also has quiet moments as Eli seeks shelter. He exchanges boots with a dead guy and listens to his iPod.
Eli stops at a local gang-town to recharge his iPod and find water. Carnegie (Gary Oldman), the town chieftain, becomes interested after he sees Eli's combat skills. He sends a female companion, Solara (Mila Kunis), who he holds captive with threats to her blind mother Claudia (Jennifer Beals), to convince him to stay. But Eli is difficult to crack. He's principled, strong willed, and gifted almost with supernatural abilities. Bullets seem to just miss him, and he finds mysterious ways to sneak away.
Oddly enough, Carnegie seems passionate for Claudia, but business takes priority as he desperately searches for a book of some sort. (It certainly isn't "The DaVinci Code" since we see him tell his henchman to burn it, along with a few Oprah magazines.) He wants more power and territory, and the book will help bend people to his will. You might remember Carnegie's #1 henchman (Ray Stevenson) from the popular HBO series "Rome", in which he played Titus Pullo, a dim witted behemoth of a fighter. Here he plays a smart adviser who stands to the side and barks orders to Eli. You need strong men like him to keep order in this environment.
Along the way, Eli becomes friends with Solara (Mila Kunis). He teaches her to pray before eating, and she helps him find a secret water source. He's suspicious of her at first since he doesn't want to be drawn into Carnegie's clutches, but she keeps running into him and they share in a few of the massive bullet exchanges in the third act. Carnegie discovers that Eli has the book and comes after him with all his men, firing a rocket at him and unloading all the ammo of a Gatling gun.
The third act strays a bit from the carefully crafted first parts. But it's still fun to watch. The dark sarcasm finally works. Just before the big shoot out, Eli discovers a husband and wife duo of survivalist cannibals. What an odd team they become as Eli and Solara join the two cannibals against Carnegie in a good old fashioned bullet fest! But, unfortunately, the film has strange explanations against cannibalism as if it feels the need to demonize it (any cannibal rights activists outraged yet?): Eli identifies cannibals from their shakes and perhaps from their fingernails. If so, why doesn't the husband shake too? Is this also why the townspeople keep asking to see Eli's fingers before they do business with him? Does a cannibal get the shakes and bad fingernails? The film, directed by the Hughes Brothers ("From Hell", "Dead Presidents", "Menace II Society"), is difficult to compare to any one kind of film. It's like a silent "Mad Max" in that it takes place post apocalypse and features a rouge man demolishing any thieves or gang members that disturb his path. Yet he's on foot most often and we don't see nearly as many loud automobile chases. It's similar to "The Road" or "I Am Legend" in that it focuses on a survival story, and Eli (Denzel Washington) is reduced to basic subsistence and self defense in a lawless future. He hunts for food, looks for water (a precious commodity), and tries to keep his iPod charged. But he doesn't contend with vampires or mutants, and he's more of a super ninja warrior, who slashes his enemies to pieces.
In a cruel, mostly illiterate, and unforgiving world, Eli walks alone as the last symbol of moral certitude and resilience. It takes great courage for him pass up a chance to take revenge on a group of thieves as they attack an innocent couple in the distance. He's one of the rare few able to master his inner desires to fulfill a greater purpose, especially rare in a movie of this scale and for mainstream consumption.
He stands for the preservation of a nearly extinct set of beliefs, all wrote down in a book he carries around with him (the last of its kind). He reads it everyday, but he barely needs to keep reading since most of it pulses through his memory so loudly he can recite lengthy portions. The film is a parable perhaps about worries that traditional beliefs might go out of circulation if individuals stop studying, reading, and remembering their literary and important teachings in the book that Eli carries. Morality, of the sort the movie prefers, must be internalized for it to become truly and faithfully resilient against external forces. You have to watch the movie to find out the book Eli wants to protect, and hopefully his memory is really good because much will depend on it.