REVIEW: ‘The Book of Eli’

“The Book of Eli” – if you were to believe the trailers – looks to be another in a long line of post-apocalyptic actioners that includes everything from “a Boy and His Dog” to “Mad Max” to “the Postman”. At first blush, it looks to be nothing more than the painfully familiar story of the lone badass trekking across the desolate future landscape to the soundtrack of gunfire and explosions.

Luckily for us, the Hughes Brothers chose to treat us to something a little less ordinary.

“The Book of Eli” tells the story of a lone man (the titular Eli played by Denzel Washington) trekking across the desolate future landscape… wait, that sounds pretty ordinary. But it’s not, because Denzel is a badass who can fight off a gang of wasteland miscreants all by his lonesome… hmmm, that sounds pretty formulaic too. Well, he comes across a lone bastion of post-nuclear war civilization and runs afoul of the corrupt boss of the town. And if you’re sitting there thinking to yourself that that sounds a little run-of-the-mill, well, you’re right – but you’re not. You see, this town is run by one Mr. Carnegie (Gary Oldman – who does geeky and creepy so well), and Carnegie is seeking out a book. Not just any book of course. He’s looking for a book that will allow him to exert effortless control over the masses, because the masses will come from miles around to follow him if “the words are right.”

The book he’s looking for is the Bible.

Guess what book our man Eli is carrying.

Of course, Eli comes to town with no small amount of fanfare – if you consider him dismembering several of Carnegie’s men musical – and is brought before Carnegie himself. He susses that Eli has a book and locks him up for the night. However, before killing the book out of him, he tries the softer route and sends his step-daughter, Solara (Mila Kinus who goes through a lot of the movie looking like a refugee starlet), to seduce him. He turns her down and his faith makes an impression on her. So much so that, after Eli escapes from Carnegie, she follows after him.

Conventional Hollywood wisdom would have this movie continue with an endless stream of gunfights, car chases and pithy one-liners. Instead, the Hughes Brothers (back with their first feature since 2001’s “From Hell”) give us an examination of the difference between the abuses of demagoguery and the power of one man’s faith. Even more impressive is that they do it in such a way that the movie is neither a finger-wagging scolding of modern Christianity nor is it a big sloppy kiss to it.

The main players are all solid. Washington brings his acting chops, of course, but also did his own fight scenes. Word is that they used no camera trickery for them so that’s all Denzel you see on screen kicking ass. The MPAA calls it “brutal violence” and I would have to agree. The fight scenes are things of vicious beauty and would bring a smile to good King Leonidas’ face. Oldman dials up the creepiness – not quite to Zorgian levels – as Carnegie. I think he even manages to add the thinnest layer of despair to Carnegie that makes him more engaging, more human than the typical Hollywood villain. Kunis holds up the middle as Solara, never falling into that “what’s she doing there” realm that Katie Holmes did in “Batman Begins.”

“The Book of Eli” could have very easily turned into what its trailer presented: just another movie that replaces character development in a story for explosions. Instead, we get a modern parable and a damned entertaining one at that.