Title: The Book of Eli (2010)Starring: Denzel Washington, Gary Oldman, Mila Kunis
Directed By: The Hughes Brothers
The Book of Eli is your standard post-apocalyptic wasteland fare. You've got the lonely wanderer on an unexplained quest. You've got the desperate scavengers, the barely-standing settlements run by bad guys, the beautiful and out of place damsel in distress, the cars that run even though there hasn't been a gas station in 30 years, etc. You know, all the things that the Mad Max movies said you have to have in a post-apocalyptic wasteland.
The thing that's so depressing about this, is that none of it is ever explored more deeply than that. How did Carnegie (Gary Oldman) take over his town in the first place? He's obviously not the strongest or most dangerous person there, but he gets to bark orders at his soldiers. Why did they ever START listening to him? Why is Eli (Denzel Washington) alone? He's on a quest, we get that. But why wouldn't he be trying to get others to participate in his pilgrimage? How did he learn to fight? He tells us he's been on this journey for a long time, but at what point did he stop to practice his aim and hone his swordsmanship? I wished for more from these characters, because all we really got were carbon copies of things we've seen before. There is one "big reveal", but it wasn't the game-changer that the Hughes' had hoped for; and they even screwed it up for themselves earlier in the film.
There were plenty of good things. I liked the look of this movie, the colors are washed out a little. The sky is always clear, the sun always bright, but it's harsh and never optimistic. The costumes seemed appropriate. The cameo appearances were great as well: Michael Gambon, Tom Waits, Malcolm McDowell; all perfect for this type of story. The action was (mostly) handled well too.
Really, the film's biggest downfall is that we've already seen all this before. I guess I just hoped for at least something different from the first movie by Albert & Allen Hughes since 2001's From Hell. Instead, I got exactly what the trailer told me I would.
Score: 6.5/10
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