The Book of Eli (2010)

I caught most of the post apocalyptic movies this year including The Road and just today The Book of Eli starring Denzel Washington, Milla Kunis, Jennifer Beals and Gary Oldman. Since both movies are set in the same backdrop there is no avoiding comparisons being drawn between both the movies. Which one is better? Hands down The Road for me! That being said, The Book of Eli is a well made movie. Aside from the similar backdrop, there is very little similarity between the two movies.

On the landscape, I really like how the movie is shown. The deserted streets, the saturated colors, the deserted buildings is really well done and totally believable. The story is about Eli played by Denzel Washington on a quest to get the knowledge of the only copy of the bible left in the world to "The West" which is actually ironically the Alcrataz prison. The story has strong Christian undertones and like it's Chinese Odyssey counter part, the path to salvation is lined with perils and dangers most. Instead of ghouls and bull headed demons of it's chinese cousin, here the nemesis Gary Oldman which leads a gang of bikers which looks like extras from the Mad Max days which is maniacally looking for the copy of the Bible for the power he hopes to wield over people with it. Oldman, who looks like he is desperately in need of a bath (the lot of them looks like this except for Denzel who looks suspiciously clean) looks right at home playing "The Bad Dude" like he had done is so many movies. The only thing here is just that I wished that he was not so literal about his intention on getting his grimy paws on the Bible.

The action here is really good and a couple of sequences where the camera follows the path of a projectile it's being shot at while at the same time switching scenes between two warring sides lends a kinetic feel to the movie which I have not seen anywhere else save for those bullet scenes in chinese movies. That is really good. There is also a shootout scene to watch out for. Ok Corral! Boo Yah!

More on the acting ... Denzel is good in this movie, but I wouldn't say that this anything new here. He is playing well ... Denzel. The whole movie is mostly carried on the performances of Oldman and Denzel. Nothing much from the others like Kunis and gang stood out for me including a forgettable cameo by Malcolm McDowell at the last act of the movie. One complain I have about the final scenes is when Denzel does the Gandhi thing that seems so out of place in a movie like this. About the story too, this movie suffers a bit of the same thing as the 2009 Dennis Quaid clunker which is being too literal on the symbolism. Play it differently! I do not need the symbolism shoved down my throat, trust the intellect of your audience to find the message you are trying to put across and that a better movie it makes. Check out the final scene from the Horsemen where everything is explained to get what I mean.

Hughes brothers have done some good movies and this is no exception, just forgettable and I have seen better so 3 out of 5 for this one. Ask me in three times about this and I probably won't even be able to tell you about the plot of this movie.