Rating: 7/10

Writer: Gary Whitta
Directors: Albert Hughes, Allen Hughes
Cast: Denzel Washington, Mila Kunis, Gary Oldman
Studio: Warner Bros.

I’ve become pretty tired of the post-apocalyptic setting. Mainly because it’s hard to use that setting while keeping the story creative. Let’s face it, this setting is used quite frequently. Countless movies, video games, and books take place in a desolate world in shambles. Needless to say, I’ve been wanting a post-apocalyptic movie that was a breath of fresh air. It seems that I’m breathing easy, because THE BOOK OF ELI delivered.

THE BOOK OF ELI does a lot of things surprisingly well and has many ideas that are handled in a very smart and clever way. For example, the films never goes into deep detail about what destroyed the world, but it does give us just enough to understand. The film does the same thing when explaining why books are so important, although this reason is a lot less clever, it is still pulled off to perfection. One thing ELI pulls off shockingly well, is that there are some clever jokes infused into the film. Most of which are only funny because we are outside observers, and things we take for granted (like certain musical choices) are much more precious to them.

I have to give credit to the visuals of the film, because it is well-deserved. Although some of the establishing shots looked a little fake and too CG, the world is usually extremely well-realized. Not only that, but most of the action sequences are extremely stylized. Several of them are done in shadows, where you can see the fighting and very obvious blood splatters, but not directly. Of course, not all of the fight scenes are done that way, and there are enough heads getting cut off that it would make Russell Crowe’s character in GLADIATOR weep.

The cast was surprisingly great, too. I’m usually pretty on the fence with Denzel – his acting career is so much like a pendulum, he does one good movie and then a bad one. I guess we lucked out because his last movie was THE TAKING OF PELHAM 123, so he had to be good in this. Mila Kunis was pretty alright too, but that is a normal expectation for her. But of course, the one performance everyone cares about is Gary Oldman’s big return to being a villain. Let me just say that he did it very well, not THE PROFESSIONAL well, but very well. The explanation they gave for his character being a villain was so well done and very clever. The film also has some really cool cameos, like Tom Waits as the shop keeper. There is also one more big cameo at the end, but I think that one is better left as a surprise.

THE BOOK OF ELI has a major shock twist at the end, that I must admit, is kind of what really sold the movie. There are basically two parts to the twist, the actual twist itself and the explanation behind it. Now, if we were looking at it in a logical sense, one could argue that the explanation behind the twist made no sense. They could have easily taken the twist in a way that made more sense but was less surprising. But in the end, it doesn’t matter if it made sense or not because the surprise factor alone makes it work.

Unfortunately, the film had to have a certain obligatory scene at the very end of the movie that I felt was really unnecessary. But in all truth, it is such a small factor of the entire film that it really diminishes nothing. It just felt really forced and didn’t work well with the film.

This movie is an easy suggestion, and I can easily suggest this movie to most people. To put it simply, go check out THE BOOK OF ELI.