Review of The Book of Eli (2010) by Karl N — 22 Mar 2012

In the not-too-distant future, some 30 years after the final war, a solitary man walks across the wasteland that was once America. Empty cities, broken highways, seared earth--all around him, the marks of catastrophic destruction. There is no civilization here, no law. The roads belong to gangs that would murder a man for his shoes, an ounce of water...or for nothing at all.But they're no match for this traveler.A warrior not by choice but necessity, Eli (Denzel Washington) seeks only peace but, if challenged, will cut his attackers down before they realize their fatal mistake. It's not his life he guards so fiercely but his hope for the future; a hope he has carried and protected for 30 years and is determined to realize. Driven by this commitment and guided by his belief in something greater than himself, Eli does what he must to survive--and continue.Only one other man in this ruined world understands the power Eli holds, and is determined to make it his own: Carnegie (Gary Oldman), the self-appointed despot of a makeshift town of thieves and gunmen. Meanwhile, Carnegie's adopted daughter Solara (Mila Kunis) is fascinated by Eli for another reason: the glimpse he offers of what may exist beyond her stepfather's domain. But neither will find it easy to deter him. Nothing--and no one--can stand in his way. Eli must keep moving to fulfill his destiny and bring help to a ravaged humanity. --© Warner Bros.

Alright, I'm going to be completely honest, when I walked out of the theater, I straight up didn't like this movie that much, but now that I have given it some time to digest, I think otherwise. And this is why. To start out the story is pretty well done, it's very original or for the most part pretty entertaining. It's very uneven though, at some points you wonder why some scenes are even in there, and how they relate to the story, and some scenes just drag on for far too long, such as the opening scene, which I thought was way too long, and kind of pointless. Another big downfall in this story is the book, I won't say what the book is, but that's what this movie is about and I didn't feel like it had the power that Gary Oldman said it had. There is only one scene where Carnegie kind of explains why the book has so much power, but it's very brief. Really that's why I thought this movie was kind of bad at first, there just isn't a lot of explaining of why this book is so powerful, and what Carnegie plans to do with it, I just wish there was more explaining for the main plotline, which due to the uneveness of most of the plot there is a lot of unanswered questions. Then I realized there really is a lot of good in this movie, such as the brutal action scenes that tie along with the story, and when I brutal, I mean bloody brutal. I won't go into detail but some of the scenes I was wincing in pain, and going "there's no way that just happened." Denzel is just a complete badass in this movie. I felt the ending was done pretty poorly, I really didn't like it, I did however like the twist at the end, it completely threw me off guard, and now I kind of half to see it again to see if it really fits in. I just didn't like how there's still a lot of unanswered questions, and in my opinion some unjustifications (if that's a word). I loved the way the whole movie looked though, it felt like a post apocolyptic wasteland, because it was but it felt real, and pretty sweet.

Get Megan Fox out of here and replace with the incredibly hotter Mila Kunis, oh yeah she can act too! Yes that's right people, a young hot actress, who can actually act, I never thought I would see the day. I've never been a big fan of thats 70 show, but I knew she was in it. In this movie she plays Eli's friend and Carnegie's adopted daughter, she hates him though. Anyways, she's does an excellent job portraying her hatred for her father, and does a great job showing her love for Eli, although she never says it, you can tell there is a significant bond between them, and she pulls it off well. Oh yeah, she's hot. Denzel, my man Denzel. This man doesn't do movies for the paychecks I swear, every movie he's in he just immerses himself in his role, and this really is no exception, I have yet to find a role in which he doesn't do a good job in. He's just a man roaming through this world, relying on faith to guide him, plus he's pretty good with weapons. All in all Denzel knows what he's doing, and he's nothing short of impressive. The same goes for Gary Oldman, I love this guy, he can pull off any role, whether it's the good guy, or the bad guy, he portrays whatever he plays so well. You really feel as if he wants this book, and would do anything for it, he only cares about himself and what he wants, like I said before though I wish there was a lot more explaining of why he wants that book, and how much power it has, and what it will actually do.

The morals in this movie are so good, they get there own section. If anything is going to make up for the major flaw in the story, then this is what will do it. I just love how Eli fights to stay alive because of faith, because he has a goal that he must set out for. He needs to stay alive, he has the will to stay alive. I'm telling you, if you need a good self-esteem booster, go see this movie and put yourself in Eli's place, I guarantee you'll feel better about yourself, with all the crap this man has to go through on a mission of faith. It's just incredible to see what this one man will do in order to complete this task given to him. All based on what he thinks is true. Of course this could all sound like random BS if you hate religion or something, but if you look deeper than that there really are more morals than that of the Christian ones. But me being a firm believer I thought that the Christian morals were done very well. I really loved the scene where Eli and Carnegie are standing off and Carnegie says "don't you want to spread that book and it's words to everyone?" and Eli replies with "More than ever, I've been waiting for a town that I could trust this book to so I could share what's within...but I haven't found it yet." and he walks off which then turns into an awesome firefight.

Overall, now that I really went into depth about this movie, I really did enjoy it. There's just so much in this movie, that the good overpowers the bad, wow just like one of the morals in the movie, crazy stuff there. The story is very original and done very well, but there is a lot of unanswered stuff, a lot of nit picky things, and some big loopholes. The acting is very well, I loved all three of the characters, Denzel did great, Mila did great, Gary did great. I wouldn't expect anything less from any of them, except Mila because that was my first movie I've seen with her, and she did very good, so hats off to her. The action in the movie is brutally awesome, and very bloody. The music, I forgot about the epic music. I'm just going to say one thing. I effing love the music in this movie, it brings everything together, and makes the whole apocalyptic world feel depressing and just awesome. And once again the morals in this movie were just overwhelmingly awesome, I really like every single moral in this movie. I liked the twist at the end, but I didn't like the end completely, one part of the ending was just stupid, and the rest I just wish there was more to it. So this is a great movie, not completely amazing, it isworth the money, and I recommend it.