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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. Read critic reviews
Rent The Book of Eli on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, Vudu, or buy it on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, Vudu.
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Thirty years after war turned the world into a wasteland, a lone warrior named Eli (Denzel Washington) marches across the ruined landscape, carrying hope for humanity's redemption. Only one other man (Gary Oldman) understands the power of what Eli carries, and he is determined to take it for himself. Though Eli prefers peace, he will risk death to protect his precious cargo, for he must fulfill his destiny to help restore mankind.
Rating: R (Some Brutal Violence|Language)
Genre: Adventure, Action
Original Language: English
Director: Allen Hughes, Albert Hughes
Producer: Joel Silver, Denzel Washington, Broderick Johnson, Andrew A. Kosove, David Valdes
Writer: Gary Whitta
Release Date (Theaters): wide
Release Date (Streaming):
Box Office (Gross USA): $94.8M
Runtime:
Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures
Production Co: Silver Pictures
Sound Mix: SDDS, Dolby Digital, DTS
I've always been a big fan of post apocalyptic films but for some reason I never got round to seeing this film until years after, And yet again I kick myself for waiting so long to watch it, The film seems to be nothing new at first just an average survival movie but soon a deeper and more religious story unravels and it's very gripping from start to finish with some pretty good action scenes too, A very strong cast all act brilliantly, And the twist at the end was brillant and people will either love it or think it's too silly but a second watch of this film will change your mind, Its religious plot will not be for everyone but it doesn't go too deep into it, But in the end it's a great film that deserves much more praise.
A silly christian parable about a man in a post-apocalyptic world who tries to save a King James bible for humanity. Another oh-so-typical evil man wants the same book so he can exploit its words and use them as an ideological weapon to control people. Meanwhile, it is the film itself that is a laughable ideology that seems to have been written by an American fundamentalist (this is especially clear in the finale with the 'blindness' plot twist and Denzel Washington lying shaved, in white garb on his deathbed, like a saint despitethe fact that he has massacred half the population of survivors along the way). That being said, the film has nice cinematography and, while the imagery is typical post-apocalyptic fare, it is well done and can be impressive. The violence is ridiculously overplayed and unrealistic, but it is fun if you do not take the film seriously (and how could someone take it seriously?) and the performances are below average. It is sad seeing a good actor such as Gary Oldman playing for the 100th time the cartoonish villain. The electronic soundtrack adds to the films self-important pretentiousness. The post-apocalyptic has a lot to offer as a genre but it is too bad that they make them with such naivete. The Book of Eli certainly brings to mind that other monstrosity among American post-apocalyptic films, I am Legend, which also weds the genre's conventions with religious nonsense. It is funny that one of the last shots shows the printed bible being put on a shelf among important books of other religions, trying to show that the film possesses also a multicultural side. (Oh, my!)
A simplistic adventure offering up the morals of a campfire fable. Washington has fun in the lead, alongside Oldman who helps to elevate this action epic.
Most of "The Book of Eli" isn't easy to swallow, but it's still one of the better post-apocalyptic tales of recent memory. Yeah, it's uneven in certain aspects and the score doesn't quite fit the action onscreen most of the time, but the Hughes brothers direct some of the most dazzling sequences of stylized mayhem you're likely to ever see in a motion picture.
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