The Book of Eli

The other night I watched the Denzel Washington/Gary Oldman opus, The Book of Eli on dvd. Besides the caliber of the aforementioned actors what attracted me to this movie is the post-apocalyptic settings and the fact that conflict centered around a book. Growing up in the 1980's with the Mad Max movies I also was interested to see how the Hughes Brothers would envision this type of world in comparison to Mad Max's fuel injected wasteland.

Overall, I enjoyed The Book of Eli. The plot moved quickly and got Eli involved with other characters which kept things rolling. Sometimes movies about lone wanderers or survivors like I am Legend can spend too much time with just that one character and despite the actor's abilities it can get a bit dull. The movie also does a decent job at explaining the war, and Eli's and Carnegie's quests via the characters rather then a narration or lengthy exposition that stalls the story.

The action sequences were excelent. There are several times when Eli is out manned by great odds. It's during these scenes that the fight choreography really shines. It's nice to see combat handled in a fairly realistic manner.

Visually, The Book of Eli is what you'd expect from a post-acolyptic setting. Charred cars, broken bridges, and crumbling buildings. The only thing that annoyed me slightly is that the characters' clothing was in good condition. No frayed cuffs, patched knees, or haggard apparell. It was all a little too neat and clean. Not a major issue, but still I wonder why there's such a lapse in attention to detail here when it doesn't exist in the environment.

In terms of the story it may go over some people's heads or they may dislike it simply because it involves some Christian elements. Personally, I enjoyed the story a lot. The movie handled it well without being too heavy handed either way in my opinion. Despite his quest Eli was not without his flaws, and this made him more believable to me. Carneige was an archtype that you can point to throughout history and even current events. Yet he was very human at times, and in some ways I could relate to him or at least understand his motivations - although I never agreed with them.

The Book of Eli to me was a good movie that balanced the elements of action with a good story about Faith and Evil. There is a bit of a twist toward the end which some people will have a knee jerk negative reaction but if you sit back and pay attention and think for yourselves as well as pay attention to some very subtle clues the twist works very well. At the end it appears the Hughes Brothers are prepared to make a sequel or 'part two' yet Eli's story is wrapped up in a realistic and satisfying manner.

For me The Book of Eli is a welcomed addition to my personal collection. If you like sci-fi that is more then ''pew pew'' and metal bikinis then check it out.