The Book of Eli

"The Book of Eli" is a post apocalyptic tale of a man, Denzel Washington, on a trip west. The movie begins after a war has ensued, and as the movie progresses you learn bits and pieces about the war and potentially why is started. The movie is fun from the beginning. We join Eli in a very cryptic, dark, and unimaginable moment- he is surviving. His survival depends on food, and though he kills an animal in the opening scene, a cat, it is also very clear that he is compassionate post cooking of his prey. What just happened, me telling you he killed a cat, won't normally happen. In this case I revealed something about the movie that was telling because; a. You find out in the first 2 minutes. More importantly, b. It has ZERO bearing on the movie, what he killed that is. c. "He nailed that pussy." Totally inappropriate comment, but funny either way. It was shouted out loud by someone in the theater. Eli is very witty, very James Bond like in his demeanor, and very Rambo like in the sense that he could probably also take out the entire Soviet army in the span of an hour and a half movie. Different from Rambo however, it is believable by the time the movie ends. I am not too big on Denzel as an actor, though he has his moments, and this is certainly one of those. From moment one, I bought in to Denzel as Eli, and everything that Eli was. Eli is a "walker" in the movie, he walks around the country, that is previously the United States with no defined "home". As mentioned above he is walking west, you find out early that he is carrying a book that he reads often. The book is very important to him and every person that remains living. Like all post apocalyptic movies, it isn't really post apocalyptic because people survived. He makes his way to a small town east of California that has been resettled and the movie really begins from there. Gary Oldman portrays the antagonist, Carnegie, and does a fantastic job of doing so. Carnegie doesn't have a dynamic personality he isn't a villian like the joker (Heath Ledger) from "Dark Knight" or Mick Taylor (John Jarratt) from Wolf Creek, but he does have a unique characteristic that separates him from the Lex Luthors (Superman) of the world and that is he is on a quest for books. Of course he also wants a shot of world domination like he wants a shot of espresso in his venti soy caramel latte. The cast in the movie is dynamic, and put together well. The movie is full of action, decapitation, swords, guns, and walking. It's exciting, riveting, and looks stunning. The digital projection in this movie, with the pallet of grays and blacks looks fantastic. The movie is pretty straight forward, until the end. There is a very interesting twist at the end of the movie. I would be willing to guess that there aren't many people who see this movie who figure out the twist before it is revealed. It wasn't a Keyser Soze (The Usual Suspects) twist, but a good one still. Everyone should see this movie, it's a good tale of believing in something, for no good reason, and making it come true. We have all felt like there is 3000 miles in front of us and we will never accomplish our goals, this movie portrays the trials and tribulations that we all face very well. While you may not be facing men with guns and swords, we all have demons that we have to face and Eli inspires us to be something more. 3 out of 5 stars. Good viewing.
JP