First things first: The Book of Eli is about religion. More specifically, The Book of Eli is about Christian religion. So those unnamed people Roger Ebert says are “attacking” it as “fundamentalist propaganda” kind of have a point. Like Ebert, I won’t tell you what the film’s titular book is: but Eli (Denzel Washington) starts quoting from it about five minutes into the film, so if I did drop its name, it wouldn’t exactly be a spoiler. Suffice it to say: Eli didn’t write it.
I liked this movie. But not because it was particularly wonderful or anything. As films about post-apocalyptic despair and survival go, it’s pretty rote:
- Perpetually overcast sky: check.
- Lone wanderer who holds the fate of the world’s regeneration in his hands, maybe: check.
- Unlikely “buddy pairing”: check.
- Inexplicably ruthless opponent to world regeneration: check.
- Greasy-haired, dingy-toothed, hygiene-deficient biker types who’ve resorted to rape and cannibalism to survive these increasingly dark times: check.
- Admonishing statements about “the world before” (in this film, Eli grouses, “We had more than we needed. We threw away things people would kill for now.”): check.
- Really bad CGI and a landscape that is obviously being shot, in part, on a not-so-large soundstage: double-check.
We’ve seen it all before. We’ve just never seen it directed by the Hughes brothers and starring Denzel Washington. And Mila Kunis. And Jennifer Beals (who just doesn’t work enough anymore. For shame!). This is a very cool primary cast. The film’s worth seeing for the one scene Washington and Beals share, which reunites them for the first time since 1995’s Devil in a Blue Dress. This scene’ll seem pretty innocuous at first, but it’ll wind up being significant to you in the end. Kunis is also particularly strong in all her scenes with Washington. I love her anyway, and the alliance her character, Solara, and Eli form is pleasant to watch, if predictably unfolded.
Just don’t expect anything transcendent here. Don’t go in looking for Children of Men. Expect a lot of shots of Denzel doing his trademark walk while looking dusty and pensive. Expect Gary Oldman to camp it up as the villain. Expect to raise an eyebrow at the implausible reveal at the end. Do not—I repeat: do. not.—ask any questions. And just enjoy yourself.
After all, movies about the end of the world don’t always have to be self-important and doggedly committed to realism. Sometimes, you just go to laugh.