The Book of Eli has a very straight forward plot. The movie takes place in a post-apocalyptic world after some sort of war, rapture, or the end of days. It is a dry rustic world which I perceived as a mix between the environments of two popular video games, Borderlands and Fallout 3.
Eli (Denzel Washington) obviously has a book of some sort and he has a mission to take it somewhere, and he has been walking for over 31 years. Naturally he won’t let anyone touch it and it has some sort of power to it. People want power, enter antagonist Carnegie (Gary Oldman).
The movie includes some pretty unexpected twists and I am a strong believer in respecting people’s surprises so I won’t reveal any spoilers.
Review:
I’m somewhat biased when it comes to Denzel Washington’s movies, so you should forgive me if it shows too much. Unfortunately however, this movie falls into the good, not great, category. With about as much of the plainness that comes with the word itself. It’s one of those movies that hardly gives you any background, and you work with the story that they give you from where it starts.
In the beginning you are introduced to this traveler with a cool fight scene. He takes out some raiders in nicely choreographed dance-like fighting with his sword. It becomes apparent as you move through the story things like water and food are obviously far and few in between resources. However objects like batteries, lighters, and iPods, you can pick up from all the people you slaughter.
Eli makes his way into a town looking to charge his battery for his iPod before continuing with his mission to ‘The West’. He makes some new friends at a bar, and the owner Carnegie has been looking for a book. How ironic, right? Does Eli just decide to give the book to him? Oh no, dear reader, it has to be much more bloody than that.
After a fire fight Eli escapes and one of the bar wenches follows him, a young girl with a cool name, Solara (Mila Kunis). Every time she spoke though I kept picturing Meg from Family guy which was quite irritating. So to make a long story short Carnegie follows him after the shootout and catches up with them a boobless 15 minutes later. He threatens to hurt Solara for the book and apparently this book that Eli has been reading teaches values so he gives it up for her.
Any more info will just ruin the twists of the end of the story. You figure out which book it is pretty early on, I’m sure your little brains can figure out which book it is out of all literature. I think the biggest mystery is what his last name is though… I’m still trying to figure it out.
Final Words:
The movie was very interesting and the fight sequences were very well done. The movie has a lot to do with faith, though, and the message that deals with that is very clear and the twist is considerably interesting at the end and highly unpredictable, which makes the movie ‘good’.
Pros
- Interesting plot
- Spectacular fight scenes
- Denzel Washington
- Solid depiction of a post-apocalyptic world
Cons
- Story isn’t that amazing
- Not a lot of content
- Mila Kunis is nowhere as badass as Denzel Washington
Score: 7.5/10 (Good)