The Book Of Eli Review

The Book Of Eli Review

My first reaction to The Book of Eli after seeing the trailer was cool, another post-apocalyptic movie, but will it be any good? The favorite movie of this sort I've seen is Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior, i knew this wasn't going to be anything like that but i had hopes for a gritty feel like it. Direct by The Hughes Brother (From Hell) and Written by first time screen write Gary Whitta, The Book of Eli had me with high hopes but did it succeed?

The story follows as you would expect a lone wanderer, Eli played by Denzel Washington, (The Taking Of Pelham 1 2 3) is walking West in a destroyed America with a book. What happened to America or the world maybe is never really explained, fortunately you don't really need to know for the story. Along his trail to walk west to an unknown destination Eli enters a town run by Carnegie, played by Gary Oldman. (Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban) Carnegie is after the book as he says it holds the power to take control and empower people.

The story is pretty straight forward and i didn't really get drawn in to much, much due to the not to interesting characters. It seems to drag on a bit to long as well, i enjoy a movie that jumps into the story like The Book of Eli does but it then drags of and doesn't continue to push the plot at a good enough pace to keep you interested.

Denzel Washington does an average job on first viewing but with a second after knowing the twist of the film you'll pick up on his more subtle acting pieces that are well done. Oldman isn't very interesting at all, just a lot of shouting on screen but still he presents the character as he is. Mila Kunis (Date Night) plays Solara in a role outside anything I've seen her do and it is interesting to see her play this role.

The main attraction and reason I'd watch this film is the cinematography and editing, it really is well done for the most part and in general The Book of Eli has a really interesting look and feel. The clothing and look of the characters is nothing new we've seen it all before, but i really enjoyed the characters looks.

The Book of Eli isn't a interesting concept and I'm sure some people will really enjoy the twist ending. The film has a really interesting flavor and that's really the only draw point, the characters aren't really interesting and in a movie likes this you really need to get the audience rooting for the lone wanderer to conquer his quest.

Acting: 6.5

Writing: 7.0

Direction: 7.5

Production: 8.0

Overall: 7.25