Review | The Book of Eli
Credit: Alcon Film Fund, LLC
OPENS FRIDAY 1/15
A buff Denzel Washington fights his way through this stylish post-apocalyptic Western as Eli, who crosses the ravaged landscape carrying a dog-eared book, which a tyrant (Gary Oldman) desperately wants. With vigorous action, a strong story and an actual point -- the written word is more powerful than the sword -- directors Albert and Allen Hughes have traveled parallel to 2009's The Road, but made a more entertaining film.
--THELMA ADAMS
Tell Us What You Think
15/10: Denzel Washington vs. Gary Oldman sounded like a quality action flick. Plus, throw-in the style of the Hughes brothers (where have these guys been since doing From Hell?) and itâ??s all the more reason to see Book of Eli. Only despite Washington bringing a bad-ass gravitas, Oldman chewing scenery, and the Hughes giving the film the mandatory dreary look of an apocalyptic world, Garry Whittaâ??s script is just a lot of nonsense. Washington plays a Bible-toting loner named Eli, entrusted with the book by God after the world has been blown to pieces. Cannibals and various other vultures (think The Road) stand in his way. He arrives in a western town where its leader, Carnegie (Oldman), is very interested in using the Bible as a form of control over people far and wide and dispatches his sexy step-daughter (an annoying Mila Kunis), as well as other henchmen to chase Eli down. The point is the word of God is all-powerful but the plot is flimsy and ridiculous (how is the book a form of control if no one besides Carnegie can read or even knows the books significance?), and continues downhill. The Hughes brothers give us some impressive fights (with some very nice knife-wielding by Washington) as well as gore, gatling guns, and explosions but the action is saddled with heavy-handed religious overtones that take away a lot of the fun. The constant use of slow-motion and filming the cast from the back and in close-up gets tedious as well.