The Book of Eli has been a highly anticipated post-apocalyptic film; there are two reasons for this. The first is that it is the first movie done in nine years by the fraternal twin directors, the Hughes Brothers Allen and Albert. Also, surprisingly, this film consists of a serious study of a man making a path through a jungle of mass destruction and human cruelty, with an overlay of spiritual themes. The Book of Eli is a rare Hollywood film that puts a Christian man as its hero. Academy Award winner Denzel Washington plays the main character Eli, one of the few Hollywood actors who can portray a larger than life character who can dispatch a gang of cutthroats with his blade, and at the same time maintain an air of saintliness.
The Hughes brothers situate their story very strangely with an environment by graphic novel imagery with a little neo- western twist. An unknown gunman comes to town and confronts a sheriff and his clan of corrupt deputies. This fits in very comfortably with mainstream studio movie making. Unlike mainstream Westerns, the timeframe isn't anywhere near the late 1800's. It is sometime 31 years after an apocalyptic event, caused by a "Flash" which occurred during the last war that somehow brought fatal, scorching light onto the Earth. That's not the only thing that sets this apart from the average Western. Washington's Eli has claimed to have been walking west for 30 years yet everything looks like the "Flash" had been deployed last month. Nobody has bothered to build any infrastructure, or to bury any bodies.
After an intense scene where Eli's lethal abilities are challenged, he manages to take off the hand of one and defeted 5 others, but this only took approximately one minute and thirty seconds. After a period of time Eli stumbles into a desert town home to Dictator Carnegie played by Gary Oldman, who previously features in Harry Potter as Sirius Black along with playing James Gordon in The Dark Knight. Unlike in The Dark Knight and Harry Potter, Oldman plays a sleaze ball leader on a mission to find a book, but not just any book. Coincidentally, Eli is in possession of the book for which Carnegie is search for. It is later indentified as the last known copy of the King James Bible. We soon find that Carnegie will do anything. Even if it means killing Eli for the possession of The Bible. Although Carnegie and Eli are two completely different characters, both view the book as the source for social regeneration.
I give The Book of Eli 3.5 out of 5 stars. It had a great storyline, but there were times when I questioned whether or not the "Flash" occurred 30 years ago. Denzel also played a great Eli his ability to play a religious butt-kicking apocalyptic survivor was phenomenal.