DVD Reviews

The Book of Eli – Blu-ray Review

By Patrick Luce Jun 16, 2010, 16:48 GMT

$Eli walks alone in post-apocalyptic America. He heads west along the Highway of Death on a mission he doesn\'t fully understand but knows he must complete. In his backpack is the last copy of a book that could become the wellspring of a revived society. Or in the wrong hands, the hammer of a despot. Denzel Washington is Eli, who keeps his blade sharp and his survival instincts sharper as$

Eli walks alone in post-apocalyptic America. He heads west along the Highway of Death on a mission he doesn\'t fully understand but knows he must complete. In his backpack is the last copy of a book that could become the wellspring of a revived society. Or in the wrong hands, the hammer of a despot. Denzel Washington is Eli, who keeps his blade sharp and his survival instincts sharper as ...more

Denzel Washington takes a road trip through a wasteland of an apocalyptic America with a book that might just save the remaining humanity – if he can keep Gary Oldman from getting his hands on it.

Directed by the Hughes Brothers (From Hell and Dead Presidents) and written by Gary Whitta, Book of Eli sees Washington playing a lone wanderer on a mission from God to take a King James Version of the Bible to the west coast. The movie quickly establishes that Eli knows how to handle himself and that this film is going to have a rather gritty outlook at the end of times.

The world has pretty much been destroyed and burned out by war – which led to copies of the Bible being burned to the point that only a few still remain in print. Eli found his copy and was instructed by God to take it west. It doesn’t take long for his journey to lead him to a settlement that is run by a bad man named Carnegie (Oldman).

Carnegie controls the little town by controlling the clean drinking water and owning a private army. He is strict with those who break his rules, and has no qualms about having head henchman Redridge (an underused Ray Stevenson) kill to make a point. Carnegie also lives in style with a harem of women to take care of him including the blind Claudia (Jennifer Beals) and her daughter Solara (Mila Kunis).

Carnegie also sends bands of men out into the wastelands in search of books. They bring back a variety of novels, but what he is truly searching for is a copy of the Bible – which he thinks will give him an even tighter grip on power.

It appears reading hasn’t been a high priority since society fell, and Carnegie (who knows how to read) thinks his ability will give him the chance to interpret the scripture as he sees fit to benefit his own needs.

Against his better judgment, Eli heads into the little town to see the Engineer (Tom Waits) about charging his battery so he can listen to his iPod at night. Eli is also in need of water so he goes over to Carnegie’s bar to barter.

While there, Eli gets in a little scrape with some men over insulting their cat (Eli likes the taste of a good cat) and knocking it off the counter. The men circle Eli thinking he will be easy prey, but Eli shows just how good he is with a knife and makes short work of them. He lets the cat live.

Eli’s knife skills catch Carnegie’s eye and he becomes even more of an interest when Carnegie learns that Eli is carrying a mysterious heavy book with a lock on the cover. Carnegie determines it must be a Bible after Solara (who spends the evening with Eli) tries to get her mother to pray with her. This leads to a showdown on the town streets where Eli shows he is just as good with a pistol as he is with a knife.

Back on the road, Eli finds that he now has a traveling partner in Solara after she promises to take him to the town’s water supply and proves she can’t live on her own out in the world.

Together they discover they are on the run from Carnegie and his gang who manage to surround them at a house – where a massive shootout takes place. The shootout is a tad silly, but features some fun performances from Michael Gambon as George and Frances de la Tour as Martha. The couple takes in Eli and Solara and invite them for supper, but Eli quickly figures out they are on the menu and not guest.

After the big shootout, the movie winds down to a twist ending that makes the journey worth it, and helps it stand out a tad over some of the other recent trips to apocalyptic America – such as The Road.

The Book of Eli is a tad familiar and doesn’t stray too far from the established formula of the “end of times” genre – where a lone savior has the ability to resurrect man after doomsday has occurred. With that said, I really enjoyed the movie and the performances of its cast.

Washington is solid in just about any movie, but he is great in this film. He seems believable in the role and more than a tad nuts when he explains God told him to go west. Just from the opening moments (where Eli catches him a cat for supper), it is clear that he knows how to handle himself, but the Hughes Brothers make sure the audience knows just how bad ass he is with his deadly knife skills.

The film also benefits from Oldman’s over-the-top bad guy performance and it was great to see the actor returning to the villain role. Carnegie is a bad man and Oldman seems to be having the time of his life playing the character. He is the typical villain who is quick to order his men to do the killing, but prefers to stay safely behind his men when the shooting starts. He is also not above taking a cheap shot at Eli after he is sure he won’t be harmed.

Sadly, the film has several weak spots – such as Kunis’s weak performance and an ending that leaves her character open for a sequel. The Hughes Brothers do a good job with the film, but several scenes come across as cheesy (the George and Martha sequence is entertaining but rather silly compared to the heavy themes of the main plot) or predictable (you pretty much know how the film is going to end from the start).

With that said, a twist with Eli redeems some of the film’s predictability and will make you want to watch it a second time for clues that might have been missed the first time through it.

The film also benefits from the cinematography work of Don Burgess (Spider-Man and Cast Away), the editing of Cindy Mollo (television's Mad Men), and the production design of Gae S. Buckley (Open Range). The world of The Book of Eli looks how we picture the end of days – with burned out homes, harsh weather, and dirt covering everything.

It looks even better on Blu-ray’s 1080p format with every little detail brought out clearly. Washington looks like he has been wandering the road for a long time.

While the actor might not be as believable as Viggo Mortensen's performance in The Road, he is more entertaining thanks to the Hughes Brothers' use of putting the action right in the audience's face and peppering the film’s heavy plot with the action sequences.

The Blu-ray also comes loaded with some decent special features which take you into the making of the movie and shows the long journey to the screen. It is clear from the features that this was a labor of love for the Hughes Brothers and the directors wanted to bring a unique story to the audience.

The Book of Eli may not break new ground in a genre that seems to be rolling out films like there might not be a tomorrow, but it is entertaining and has a great twist towards the end. If you are a fan of the genre, the actors, or the directors, The Book of Eli will not disappoint. It is a good film that seems to get better with multiple viewings.