The Book of Eli
Directed by Albert and Allen Hughes
Warner Bros, 2010
By Caesar Martini
Denzel Washington is not really an action movie star. Normally when he’s playing a character involved in a conflict, he resolves it with his smooth chocolate charm or velvety leading man growl. And maybe he’ll shoot a dude or two. But he’s not the kind of actor who you see getting involved in scripts that call for him killing five guys in six seconds with a knife designed to hack down small trees. So when I saw just that in a preview for Book of Eli, I became intrigued.
Eli is a movie about a post-apocalyptic world. Apparently we’ve destroyed the world again, probably nuclear war this time. Sadly, not the unlikeliest of futures, but wouldn’t it be great to see a movie where the future was a wonderful place filled with kittens and flowers and everyone owned a wireless blowjob/cunnilingus dispensing machine? That’s the kind of world I want to live in.
Anyway, it’s a dusty, Mad Maxesque sort of world, except people don’t dress like brain damaged punk rock sadomasochists and gas doesn’t seem to be a big deal. Denzel plays Eli, an enigmatic man traveling alone across the wastelands, trying to find a safe place for the very special book in his possession. Unfortunately, Eli is a fantastically unlucky son of a bitch, because in a world where most people can’t even read, he wanders into the one town on Earth where Carnegie (Gary Oldman) lives — and who has coincidentally made it his life’s goal to get a hold of the very same book that Eli has, and will stop at nothing to get it. Shenanigans ensue.
I’m going to go ahead and spoil nothing by telling you the book is the Bible. Carnegie wants it because he, like Eli, is old enough to remember the world before the apocalypse, and humble enough to know that his public speaking skills would be vastly improved if he could use lines from the most influential book in history. He wants to use the passages from the bible to influence the uneducated masses and set himself up as a ruler.
As far as premises go, it’s a pretty good one. The movie depicts its post-apocalyptic world in a decent way, with some good attention to detail and a solid construction of how society functions. It’s quite plausible, once you get past the fact that Denzel’s Bible is apparently the only one left on the planet. Considering that there are as many Bibles in the world as there are hotel rooms, plus who knows how many stashed in houses and churches and so on, I don’t think it’s possible to rid the world of Bibles. They’re like the cockroach of books, if you see what I mean.
I enjoyed Book of Eli regardless. It was interesting and well-acted and well-directed. Oldman and Denzel are great, and Tom Waits and Michael Gambon show up for some small but appreciated roles. The writing was cohesive and plausible and sharp, and avoided too much focus on the pros or cons of Christianity or religion. That is, until something happens near the end of the movie that indicates that God exists the same way that looking at Michael Jackson’s nose indicates he might have had some plastic surgery done. I won’t spoil what it is, but before you ask: no, Denzel Washington is not Black Jesus.
I suppose this ending is only a problem if you’re not a religious person. I feel duped for some reason… the plot takes what I thought to be a pretty clever turn, but only really works if you accept the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ into your heart or forget about 80% of the movie. So after it was over I found myself faced with deciding that either A) God exists and I should probably stop being such a dick or B) The ending was stupid.
Still not sure which way to jump on that one, but I encourage you to go see the movie and decide for yourself.
