I saw behind-the-scenes footage of “The Book of Eli” about seven to eight months ago. I remember thinking it was going to be a cool movie with action. Maybe I built up my own hype for the movie.
The movie stars Denzel Washington, who has done previous action films, such as my favorite film, “Man On Fire.” In “Eli,” he plays the title character -- a traveler in a post apocalyptic world (which means the world is a wasteland of burned out cars and dead bodies). Eli has been traveling for a long time, carrying a book of importance, and he is heading west.
According to the story, the world had been burned by a flash. There were survivors who are now dirty, wearing sunglasses and struggling to live.
“The Book of Eli” marks the return of co-directors the Hughes Brothers (“Menace To Society,” “Dead Presidents,” “From Hell,”) who have taken some nine years off from filmmaking.
The film has a bleached out look. Eli enters a town with the feel of a western as everyone is staring him down. The only difference between this film and a western is instead of riding a horse into town, Eli walks in.
Of course, Eli cannot be left alone, and he is challenged by someone who he quickly disposes of. That in turn means that Eli must take out a few men with a huge machete to demonstrate his point of wanting to be left alone. The fight scenes in the film are very good with the use of shadows and long shots.
Some parts were too slow, as the film tried to explain what was happening. I did really like the fight scenes. Denzel was great as the saintly man with a mission from a voice that could be God’s.
The problem with the most post apocalyptic movies there is always the message that the world did something to evoke the wrath of God. I don’t know what could have be done to make “The Book of Eli” a great film like “Mad Max,” which was crazy insane and over the top. “The Book of Eli” was too under the top.
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