The Book of Eli
2010 First Hit Movie
Plot Summary for The Book of Eli (contains spoilers): Eli (Denzel Washington) has been on a journey for 30 years, walking west across America after a cataclysmic war that turned the earth into a total wasteland. The world has become a lawless civilization where people must kill or be killed. The barren roads belong to gangs of cutthroats who rob and kill for water, a pair of shoes, a lighter, or just for fun. Eli is a peaceful man who only acts in self defense, and becomes a warrior with unbelievable killing skills when he is challenged. After the war and the “Big Flash”, Eli was guided by a higher power to a hidden book and given the task of protecting the book and taking it to its final destination. Eli guards the book with his life, because he knows that the book is the only hope that humanity has for its future.
As I watched this movie I started out thinking “Kung-Fu (1972) starring David Carradine, which was also about a lone man searching for his inner peace. The first 10 minutes in the movie there is no dialogue and you are riveted to your seat as you learn about the world this movie takes place in. The scenery is bleak, almost black and white. As we all know Denzel Washington is a great actor, and when a great actor is given a good script, then you have the makings of a hit movie. What this movie needed was an over the top villain and we got that with Gary Oldman’s portrayal of Carnegie the ruler of a small town who has road gangs looking for a book. The acting that surprised me was that of Mila Kunis who played Solara in this movie. I was expecting Jackie from “That 70’s Show” and not much else from her, but was blown away when I saw her range in this movie.
The Hughes Brothers as directors made only one other movie I could recommend and that was their first movie “Menace II Society” (1993). The other movies they made were of the same cloth as that one. I only wanted to see this because the trailer looked good. I’m glad I did. I asked my family who went with me what they would give it and it ranged from 3 to 5, I was going to give it a 4 out of 5 anyway.
If you want to see a movie that not only makes you think, but also is fun to watch then this is the one to see right now. It is rated R for violence and profanity.
Cast Information:
- Denzel Washington — Eli
- Gary Oldman — Carnegie
- Mila Kunis — Solara
- Ray Stevenson — Redridge
- Jennifer Beals — Claudia
- Evan Jones — Martz
- Joe Pingue — Hoyt
- Frances de la Tour — Martha
- Michael Gambon — George
- Tom Waits — Engineer
