Reviews

All's Right With the World

The Book of Eli
directed by Albert Hughes, Allen Hughes
posted by Kattastrophe

 


It's a common theme in post-apocalyptic fiction that humans are generally so lazy and self-serving that when the end comes, those left will do nothing at all to clean up. Roads will still be clogged with abandoned cars. Dead bodies will rot inside houses. Utility stations will never be repaired. Murderers will run the town and everything will pretty much have to gone to shit.

The Book of Eli is the first movie I've seen that gave a reason for it. Thirty years after "the Big Flash" Eli (played by Denzel Washington) is travelling across the ruined United States. Humanity has abonded their history, burning books and eschewing their culture because they believed it caused too much conflict. Ironically, as a result, they end up nuking themselves.

So, Eli travels west, carrying with him a book that could save or damn the world all over again. Lemme just stop right here for a moment to mention how amazing the fight scenes are in this movie. They're both beautiful and horrifically violent. The action is there for those who want it, but the theme of grace is present as the movie pulls no punches about how inhuman and ugly that level of conflict is.

Carnegie (Gary Oldman) understands as well Eli the power the words in this book hold. He explains that it enslaved man once before, it will do it again. And he wants that.

The film is stunning. The acting is spot-on. My one and only complaint is that Solara (Mila Kunis) is too... cute at times. In the middle of a barren wasteland, she looks like she could be just out camping in her skinny jeans and vest.

Gaming Inspiration:
At times, Eli seems like nothing short of a Mage, the way he performs in battle. And then there's the fact that most of the time, things just go his way. Like Fate is on his side. Or maybe an Unseen Sheild when he walks away from a torrential downpour of bullets unscathed.