The Book of Eli

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The Book of Eli

R

Released Jan 15, 2010

1h 52m

Adventure

Action

Drama

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

47%

Tomatometer

206 Reviews

64%

Popcornmeter

250,000+ Ratings

Thirty years after war turned the world into a wasteland, a lone warrior named Eli marches across the ruined landscape, carrying hope for humanity's redemption. Only one other man understands the power of what Eli carries and he is determined to take it for himself. Though Eli prefers peace, he must risk death to protect his precious cargo, to fulfill his destiny to help restore mankind.

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Critics Consensus

It's certainly uneven, and many viewers will find that its reach exceeds its grasp, but The Book of Eli finds the Hughes brothers injecting some fresh stylish fun into the kind of post-apocalyptic wasteland filmgoers have seen more than enough of lately.

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Ed Koch

The Atlantic

This picture is one big waste of time, including that of the actors and those in the audience who pay to see it.

Jan 16, 2018

Full Review

Candice Frederick

Reel Talk Online

The Book Of Eli is just one hot mess with choppy biblical undertones... The filmmakers just tried to get too deep with something that was not fully developed.

Rated: D+

Sep 11, 2017

Full Review

Dwight Brown

National Newspaper Publishers Association

Post-apocalypse films are a dime a dozen, so what makes The Book of Eli so different? Not much, except an evangelical subplot that is not strong enough to be this film's savior.

Rated: 1.5/4

Nov 8, 2016

Full Review

Brian Eggert

Deep Focus Review

The most admirable aspect of the production is its use of Washington in a samurai-esque role.

Rated: 2.5/4

Aug 25, 2023

Full Review

Rene Jordan

El Nuevo Herald (Miami)

A violent action spectacle. [Full review in Spanish]

Oct 26, 2022

Full Review

Sean Axmaker

Stream on Demand

Directors Albert and Allen Hughes lean into the allegorical elements, making it a badlands spaghetti western by way of a holy mission and a science fiction frontier thriller that embraces the possibility of miracles.

Mar 20, 2022

Full Review

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Ryan W

Tried to be deep, but came off as cringe and embarrassing.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

04/18/25

Full Review

Mr P

Christ. It's interminable.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

04/12/25

Full Review

Amirhossein S

That was a waste of time! It seemed like to be written by some kind of religious teacher in middle eastern high schools.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

04/04/25

Full Review

Hannes P

This has to be one of the worst movies i have ever watched. Wow. 2 hours wasted.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

03/30/25

Full Review

Audience Member

I absolutely loved it. Denzel is Denzel, one of the greatest actors ever. And the storyline here was fresh and interesting. Adding to that is a twist at the end that will make you want to rewatch the movie immediately and look for all the clues, of which there are many.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/23/25

Full Review

Charles M

This movie having bad reviews is the reason I never look at reviews to determine if a movie is actually good or bad. This is objectively a well made movie and I believe it has a very solid plot. The ending is one of the coolest endings to any movie I’ve ever seen, and I’ve probably seen at least 200+ movies.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/19/25

Full Review

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Allen Hughes

Director

Albert Hughes

Director

Denzel Washington

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Synopsis

Thirty years after war turned the world into a wasteland, a lone warrior named Eli marches across the ruined landscape, carrying hope for humanity's redemption. Only one other man understands the power of what Eli carries and he is determined to take it for himself. Though Eli prefers peace, he must risk death to protect his precious cargo, to fulfill his destiny to help restore mankind.

Director: Allen Hughes, Albert Hughes
Producer: Joel Silver, Denzel Washington, Broderick Johnson, Andrew A. Kosove, David Valdes
Screenwriter: Gary Whitta
Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures
Production Co: Silver Pictures
Rating: R (Some Brutal Violence|Language)
Genre: Adventure, Action, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jan 15, 2010, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Feb 15, 2014
Box Office (Gross USA): $94.8M
Runtime: 1h 52m
Sound Mix: SDDS, Dolby Digital, DTS

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