The Book of Eli is being promoted as the first must see of 2010. I would have to agree. Denzel Washington stars as a badass traveler in a post-apocalyptic America. His prized possession is a leather bound bible from which he reads everyday. Channeling some of the best soft-spoken tough guys of the past, Denzel shows that he can be mentioned in the same sentence as Eastwood, or DeNiro… and I don’t mean Meet the Parents DeNiro. Denzel dishes out a bunch of outnumbered beat-downs each more spectacular (and gorier) than the last. Forget carrying a gun he has a machete.
The violence however is just the way to get an audience in the seats. The real purpose of the film is to combat materialism and show the importance of realizing how much we all have in our lives. Combined with the religious themes The Book of Eli boasts positive themes of morality in the face of constant sin. Denzel kills A LOT of people. Yet the Hughes brothers, who directed the film, were able to present the Vigilante in a reasonable and necessary light.
Visually, the movie was very impressive. The drastic contrast made many of the scenes appear almost black and white. Which played well into the unfamiliar landscape of the film. Although the setting is the United States it sure doesn’t look like it. If the story were to lose a few of the gross-out moments (beheadings, cannibals) then the positive aspects would shine through a little better and convey the message to some of the more hard headed movie goers. However, like I said before the gore fills seats. With the help of Mila Kunis giving her best performance and Gary Oldman’s third best (Sirius Black from Harry Potter and Commissioner Gordon from The Dark Knight win out) The Book of Eli is definitely a solid movie and my favorite Denzel performance… so far. (8.8 out of 10)
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