Synopsis: 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.
I had some relatively high expectations walking into this film, and I suppose around 90% of those expectations were met.
I love post-apocalyptic films, and when they’re done right, it’s something that I appreciate the bejesus out of.
The Book of Eli was a film which impressed me in many scenes, but ultimately fell short of my expectations.
The fight scenes within this were superbly choreographed, albeit a tad bit choppy in the CG department. Reminiscent of X-Men Origins: Wolverine’s visuals (Which weren’t impressive in the least), these effects were better, but when looked at closely it was obvious where some of the effects were used, notably in the bar fight scene. All of this, however, was completely (positively) overshadowed by the shots that were used in the film, most notably the shot in the Desert, and the one(s) on the road, the metaphorical significance of these shots were effective, and really stood out the most throughout.
One thing I simply have to address was the overuse of product placement. Ok, so a couple of products is okay, but when there’s about 7 or 8 names in a film, it begins to get ridiculous. Example- GMC, Rover, Puma, KFC, Apple to name just a few. There were countless amounts of placement in this film, but let’s move away from that.
The plot to the Book of Eli was intriguing, albeit a little under-explained, although the beginning had some indication as to what happened within the location it was set, it was rarely talked about, and even then, minimally.
Denzel Washington impressed me with his noteworthy performance, portraying his character quite well, after realising what the outcome was. Mila Kunis was a wonderful addition to the film, surprised me in many parts, although a little clichéd at parts; the ‘innocent’ charm she holds so greatly is gently wearing off, but she seemed to hold onto it. She was a lovely supporting member of the cast, however, but honestly do not think the ending can lead to anything good.
Not so sure about the biblical references though, it definitely worked the way they used it within the film, and it didn’t bother me, but it may have been somewhat controversial. That’s what makes cash I guess. That’s what it seems to be these days.
Good film, decent visuals, great dialogue, great choreography, great product placement,
6/10
Karan
via Book of Eli review.
