No less a prestigious actor than Denzel Washington has jumped on
the post apocalyptic bandwagon with The Book Of Eli. The Oscar winner plays Eli,
a lone drifter who walks the blasted lands of a United States that has been
devastated by a long ago war, which caused a natural calamity. Eli is always
pushing West, following a voice that only he can hear, and protecting a special
package--one which is kept a secret by the Hughes Brothers (who directed) until
the middle of the film. But despite this attempt to keep their surprise, it’s
pretty obvious what the package that Eli carries is, simply from the fact that
he’s always reading from it, and religiously quotes from it--especially in a
cool moment just before he delivers a righteous ass kicking to a group of
baddies in a bar.
Gary Oldman costars as Carnegie, the evil leader of a small town who wants to
branch out and rebuild civilization by looking for a special book--all copies of
which had been destroyed shortly after the apocalypse (which is something I find
hard to believe, given the book in question--but this is the Hughes’ Brothers’
little fable, so I’ll buy it). Carnegie feels that, armed with the bible, he will
gain better control over an even larger number of people then the little town he
rules now. And with Eli having the last copy, well, there’s some fireworks ahead.
While the Hughes Brothers do a good, sturdy job in creating a somber, post
apocalyptic world, the film falls flat because of their insistence on
simplifying things to the point where it becomes a shallow comic book.
Eli is the cliché super bad ass lone warrior who wanders the wasteland, somehow
protected from harm while he takes on six or seven guys at the same time. And
even when the bad guys are armed with working guns, they are still no match for
the super cool, bad-ass-ness of Eli. The reason for Eli's invulnerablity is eventually explained,
but it still winds up being a deus ex machina that robs the movie of any
suspense, since we really don’t have to worry about Eli facing off against an
army of goons. Yet despite these setbacks, the Hughes Brothers do an excellent
job at basically recreating a western within the post apocalyptic genre,
complete with a gun-toting showdown at a farmhouse.
Flashdance star Jennifer Beals has aged very nicely--she’s still as beautiful
now as when she appeared in that 1980s hit--in her role as Carnegie’s reluctant,
browbeaten wife. And Mila Kunis is extremely sympathetic as Solara, who becomes
Eli’s sidekick. Those of you who are religiously inclined may really like the
basic message behind the film, and the filmmakers deserve kudos for making a
movie with a vastly different, more exotic slant (for Hollywood, at least) than
the usual action film--not to mention the various genuinely surprising plot
twists that come at the end. Despite its minor flaws, The Book Of Eli tries to raise
the bar as much as it can, and it’s all the more interesting for its efforts.
--SF
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