The Book of Eli

I heard lots of things about this movie before I saw it; most of them bad. I watched with an open mind because I love Denzel and Gary Oldman. I’m not sure what I was expecting from this movie, but I was surprised by it nonetheless.

In The Book of Eli, we notice immediately that we are in a post-apocalyptic world. Everything is brown, dry and dirty. We meet Eli (Denzel Washington) as he travels throughout the wastelands. He encounters a woman in distress and when he stops to help he realizes he has stepped into a trap. It becomes apparent that Eli is not your average traveler because he whips the asses of the thieves in short order.

Eli keeps moving on and discovers a village run by a strange and demented man, Carnegie (Gary Oldman). Eli hopes he can get some water and other supplies in the village, but is forced to fight and comes to the attention of Carnegie. Since Carnegie runs the town with an iron fist he is impressed with Eli’s fighting skills and looks to recruit him.

Additionally, Carnegie has spent years looking for a very valuable book and finds that his new guest is carrying a book. He sends a girl in the sleep with Eli, hoping she can find information on the book. Eli isn’t interested in sex, but he befriends the girl, Solara (Mila Kunis). Unfortunately, Carnegie learns Eli has the book and he sends some goons to grab it.

Eli and Solara take off and Carnegie and his gang chase them across the wastelands. What is the powerful book? It’s a Bible and it hasn’t been seen in years. Eli takes comfort from reading its pages and is willing to die to protect the book. Does he manage to keep the book from Carnegie? Watch the movie.

I give The Book of Eli three stars. I love post apocalyptic stuff, but there were too many holes in this plot to really satisfy me. Denzel was great and Mila Kunis was quite good, but I feel that Gary Oldman (one of my absolute favorites) falls into parody. The writing could have been MUCH better and the pacing was erratic. It’s not a horrible movie, but it’s certainly one I wouldn’t watch again.

Michelle D. Kieffaber