“The Book of Eli” is a new
concept for an old genre. The
film takes place 30 years after
what is only referred to as “the
Great War.” We viewers are
taken into a world where water
is scarce, and the rate of
exchange for a moist towlette
can be equated to that of a $5
bill.
Denzel Washington portrays
Eli, the film’s title character,
and gives an understated performance.
Eli is a man of few
words, as he travels the desolate
wastelands of what used to
be North America.
He has the world’s last iPod,
which he occasionally stops to
charge with a car battery. His
most prized position, though,
is his Bible. Eli’s goal is to find
a city where he feels that the
Bible belongs – because we
learn throughout the film that
Eli’s Bible is the very last in
existence. We learn through
Eli’s travels that the most valuable
possession that a person
can have is knowledge that
others are lacking. In the future
that directors Allen and Albert
Hughes create, there is no set
law and most people born after
the Great War are not able to
read. Through his travels he
encounters thieves who rape,
steal and kill, but we learn fairly
early on that Eli is very
adept at defending himself.
His journey takes him to a
town where he meets one of
the only other men left who
can read and actually knows
the power knowledge can have
on others. Gary Oldman portrays
Carnegie, the most powerful
man in the town, who is
in search of the last Bible
known to exist.
Carnegie is portrayed as Eli’s
complete opposite.
The two men both realize the
power that the Bible can have
but plan to use it in opposing
ways. Carnegie wishes to use
the Bible as a weapon and Eli
wants to use the Bible to teach.
It is fun to watch Oldman and
Washington play off of each
other.
The two screen legends are
clearly relishing their bad
guy/good guy roles and the
interaction makes their few
scenes together that much
more intense. The same cannot
be said about Mila Kunis, who
portrays Solara, a young girl
who works in the town saloon.
Solara is the illiterate daughter
of Carnegie’s blind concubine,
Claudia. She has grown tired
of her life and wishes to leave
the confines of her small town.
Solara sees Eli as a way to
leave and soon takes off to
accompany him on his quest.
Kunis does not embarrass
herself playing alongside silver
screen heavyweights Oldman
and Washington. But when she
is called on to show great
range, she is not as polished as
the movie veterans. All in all
“The Book of Eli” is an entertaining
film. It has its clichés
but also sports impressive performances
from Oldman and
Washington.
We see where the movie is
going from around halfway
through, but with a surprising
twist in the end, viewers can sit
back in the theatre for two
hours and enjoy an action
movie that delivers a message.