Review of The Book of Eli (2010) by Luc D — 31 Jan 2012

As a fan of the Hughes Brothers previous films, Menace II Society and From Hell in particular, I was hopeful to see another stylized genre film from them. There is lots of style and little content for a film that is about the attempts of a lone "walker" to carry on the word in bible form. For a man on a mission, Eli has a lot of killing to do to protect his book from those who would use it for selfish reasons. But then, doesn't that make Eli's mission selfish?

There is a funadmental hypocrisy to Eli's efforts that hinders the depth of this film. For a film about faith, the filmmakers sure ask the view to take a lot of plot on just that...faith. Essentially the film is actually a western about a preacher trying to remind everyone of something that they forgot was really important long ago. Could have used a little more Mad Max, and a little less Pale Rider.