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As "The Book of Eli" started, I thought I had seen enough end-of-the-world movies to last me until the end of the world. Or the end of my reviewing days, whichever came first.
But, as always, Denzel Washington proved so charismatic and commanding that he pulled me into the story, set 30 years after a war (and nuclear assault or other catastrophe called simply "the flash") decimated the world.
Some people were blinded, cities left in ruins and trees stripped of leaves. Electricity, heat, food and clean water are nonexistent or scarce and in the hands of a despotic few. Most cars and the occasional plane were stopped in their tracks and have turned into rusting hulks along highways and crumbling bridges.
- Starring: Denzel Washington, Gary Oldman.
- Rating: R for some violence and language.
- Web site: 'The Book of Eli'
It's as if the world had reverted to a lawless Old West mentality -- but with the threat of cannibalism -- and Eli (Washington) travels alone, not on horse but on foot. He lives like a primitive hunter, is tickled when he finds boots that fit his feet (even if he has to take them off a dead man) and is determined to go west, old man.
A distinction is drawn between those who are old and remember the days before it all changed and those who are young and don't know what a television set is, for instance.
"People had more than they needed," Eli recalls. "We had no idea what was precious, what wasn't. We threw away things people would kill each other for now."
Books are among the precious commodities to the black-hearted Carnegie (Gary Oldman), running a makeshift town where Eli stops. When Carnegie learns Eli has a good book -- or the Good Book, as in the Bible -- he springs into action, using every weapon or woman at his disposal to obtain it.
"Book of Eli," directed by twin brothers Allen and Albert Hughes, casts Washington as a cross between a Christ-like figure or prophet and post-apocalyptic superhero.
Like Spidey or Batman, Eli can take on a half-dozen adversaries at a time, brandishing a stylized machete along with old-school firearms. His most powerful weapons, though, may be the book he guards and the faith he keeps.
The talented twins, who made "Menace II Society" along with "Dead Presidents" and "From Hell," about Jack the Ripper, direct a screenplay by Gary Whitta whose credits include the "Death, Jr." comic book series. The framing and staging of some scenes, in fact, echo the panels of a graphic novel.
As with "The Road," the absence or pop of color is used as a storytelling tool. While the Cormac McCarthy adaptation also addressed civilization, cannibalism and what Viggo Mortensen called "carrying the fire," this movie wraps an action movie around those same core questions.
Even more remarkably, it addresses the issue of religious belief as comfort, controlling cudgel or the lit fuse that started a cataclysmic war.
"Book of Eli" has one hard-to-believe turn and a showy use of rationed resources that doesn't make much sense ... until it does.
Washington is the actor who holds the movie together, but sturdy support comes from Oldman along with Jennifer Beals and Mila Kunis as two of the women in his orbit, Tom Waits as a merchant, and Michael Gambon and Frances de la Tour as elderly survivalists.
Arriving after such movies as "Terminator Salvation," "9," "Zombieland," "The Road" and "2012," "The Book of Eli" manages to distinguish itself with its smarts and star power. That's because moviegoers will follow Denzel anywhere, including to the end of the world as we know it.
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