Screenplay:
Gary WhittaCinematography:
Don BurgessCast:
Denzel Washington, Gary Oldman, Mila Kunis, Ray Stevenson, Jennifer Beals, Evan Jones, Frances de la Tour, Michael Gambon, Tom Waits, Lateef Crowder (more)VOD (4)
Plots(1)
In the not-too-distant future, some 30 years after the final war, a solitary man walks across the wasteland that was once America. Empty cities, broken highways, seared earth - all around him, the marks of catastrophic destruction. There is no civilization here, no law. The roads belong to gangs that would murder a man for his shoes, an ounce of water… or for nothing at all. But they’re no match for this traveler. A warrior not by choice but necessity, Eli (Denzel Washington) seeks only peace but, if challenged, will cut his attackers down before they realize their fatal mistake. It’s not his life he guards so fiercely but his hope for the future; a hope he has carried and protected for 30 years and is determined to realize. Driven by this commitment and guided by his belief in something greater than himself, Eli does what he must to survive - and continue. Only one other man in this ruined world understands the power Eli holds, and is determined to make it his own: Carnegie (Gary Oldman), the self-appointed despot of a makeshift town of thieves and gunmen. Meanwhile, Carnegie’s adopted daughter Solara (Mila Kunis) is fascinated by Eli for another reason: the glimpse he offers of what may exist beyond her stepfather’s domain. But neither will find it easy to deter him. Nothing - and no one - can stand in his way. Eli must keep moving to fulfill his destiny and bring help to a ravaged humanity. (official distributor synopsis)
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Reviews (9)
One of the most ridiculously WTF stupid things I’ve seen this year. The atmosphere is alright, and so are the performances, the problem is that I am not able to get over the twist, which is utterly pointless and pulled out of a (religious) ass, notwithstanding its outcome, which is just idiotic. The dialogues are toe curling (the Bible), Denzel fights better than Chuck Norris and The Book of Eli was an annoying film experiences. 30 %
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As an action movie, this is an absolutely awesome ride that I enjoyed. But then there's the problem that this is actually a movie about being made by a group of strong believers who want to convey a very important message. Without the Bible, we're fucked. This is such unbelievable drivel that I almost wanted to cry sadly at the end.
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A few knife fights and one bigger shootout do not make an action epic. And what's worse, one questionable reveal and a few attempts at existential dialogues do not create a drama at all. The Book of Eli stumbles from nowhere to nowhere, the actors meander precisely into their predictable boxes, and everything ends with one big question mark as to whether this was actually meant seriously. With a reasonable bit of removal, it is still a weaker, disjointed nothingness that is just a few glimpses of a post-apocalyptic atmosphere above the one-star threshold.
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It’s not as bad as they say. It has loads of ideas, the actors are great and the brothers in the director’s chair know how move the camera around the action in such that your eyes get an erotic massage at times, which makes the narrative weakness and author’s aimlessness all the more painful. The plot moves mechanically on a previously marked path, without ever developing the nature of a potentially interesting world, whose filth is lost in style, while the climax can’t deliver the punch that the mystery built around Denzel’s character would deserve. It’s watchable, but gratuitous AF. 60%
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Anyone who wonders why I gave The Book of Eli ****, go see how I rated Costner's The Postman. Okay, don't look for it - I gave it five. The two films have a lot in common. I don't just mean a post-apocalyptic future and one guy mashing his way through the landscape with some sort of goal/mission/whatever. In my opinion, both of them are also very unlucky - because everyone expects a dark story full of action, so logically, when they get (in the case of The Book of Eli) an intimate fairy-tale "walking movie", they stretch their disappointed faces and grumble. Yet from my point of view, The Book of Eli is definitely interesting. And if you want to engage your brain, it will make you think. Technically, this almost two-hour sci-fi film is top-notch - although it's a B-movie of the highest caliber (the shootout on the city street), all the action scenes (yes, there are some) are truly original. Eli's first skirmish, which we see as a static shot of fighting silhouettes, my favorite one-shot shooting of the house, which I will definitely watch many more times... I'm satisfied. The final thought and point are not particularly surprising (well, a little bit - but it doesn't change the fact that the screenwriter needs a slap for how he dealt with some of the situations and actions of some characters), but it doesn't offend either. The actors (Washington and the obviously reveling Oldman) and the music, which made perhaps half of the atmosphere, were pleasing. Four pure stars.
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