Book of Eli Review

Guess who's been putting off his reviews for the blog?  Yes, this guy, that's who.  But it's time for me to make amends, here's number one of many reviews:  Book of Eli.  WARNING: There will be some slight spoilers for those who have not seen it.

The movie follows a man by the name Eli (Denzel) as he goes on a sort of pilgrimage to the west through a post apocolyptic wasteland because he was "told to" while carrying something of great importance.  By who?  We don't know, Eli merely says that it was told to him by a voice to go west.  Along the way he has to face off against bloodthirsty raiders, cannibals, and the most evil of them all -- Gary Oldman.  Gary plays the mayor of a small town that Eli makes his way through.  When he finds out that Eli is the man with the rumored object of power, he goes out of his way to try and keep Eli in the city as long as possible while trying to nab the object.  Too bad for Gary Oldman though, as Solara (played by Mila Kunis) helps Eli get out of his room and ultimately joins up with him to get west or die trying.  Ultimately there's a huge stand off between Mayor Oldman and Eli, where we find out that the mystery object Eli has is a book that "can change the world", as Gary Oldman's character claims.

Now on to the ending.  Gary Oldman gets the book from Eli after a very explosion filled shoot out.  He leaves Eli and Solara for dead while he goes off to change the world, or so he thinks.  When he finally gets back you find out that the magically book of power is actually a bible.   Don't worry, this isn't about to become a huge religion heavy movie, so keep with me.  After the stunner that the book is a bible, we get what I like to remember as a great moment in movie trolling history.  Gary Oldman opens the book to find, get this, no words in it.  Now, you may be asking, "How could Eli read a book with no words?"  Well, the answer is great - Eli is blind and the book is in braile.  Now I know this may seem like a cop out on the writing staff's part but I think Shamaylan himself couldn't have thought of something as trollfaced as this.  Now the best part of this is that Eli, since gaining the bible, has memorized the entire thing.  He even speaks the whole bible so that it can be written down and reprinted.  Talk about an odd end, right?

Overall, the movie was good.  To me it was like if they took The Road and went with action instead of drama.  That and the twist ending that made say "wat." made it worth watching.  If you haven't seen it, it should be coming out on DVD soon.  If you can find it in a theater though, go enjoy yourself.

Rating:  RIFF IT

Till Next Time,
Mike