The Book of Eli

A man travels across a post apocalyptic wasteland. He has been travelling for 30 years in search of the west, while he has possession of one book, the only copy remaining of a book that everyone wants. He must protect the book from falling into the hands of the wrong person. He meets his match in Carnegie (Oldman) who will stop at nothing to gain possession of this book so he can use for evil.

I don’t really know where to start. I guess I will say I liked the film. Not the greatest film created, but a good story none the less. However I found it better in the beginning but as the story progressed the involved a man hunt, an older couple, deep meanings of faith (which were good). In the beginning it was just survival of the fittest, but by the end it was a battle of faith and believing that faith can get you through anything. Which I am not saying isnt true, but they played the message of faith too many times in the last 50 minutes.

One thing I was certain about was the powerhouse performances. I knew this going in, and when I walked out I still believed it. Oldman and Washington on opposite sides of the faith scale were terrific. Washington portraying the humble Eli, a man of few words. Oldman playing the sadistic, win at all costs Carnegie. Both carried their characters in a film that dragged on at places, both when in scenes were the highlight of the film, so the scenes they shared, were just mind blowing. But acting can’t carry the whole film, but it is a good start and can be the one thing that saves a film from failure.

Now on to the story. Eli (If that is even his real name) was a man of faith, but it could be argued that Carnegie was as well. He knew the messages the book held, and he knew that people would want to hear the words. He just wanted to use it for control over people, where Eli wanted it be spread so people could turn to it in the time of need. I read somewhere that Carnegie wanted to recreate organized religion and use it create a struggle of power, where Eli just wanted to spread faith and let people see it as they want to. Now I don’t know if this is true, the only people who would really know that would be The Hughes Brothers, so they would need to answer the question. We know Carnegie did not want the book for good reasons, but what exactly would he have done with the book, and to what extent would he have had power.

The twist near the end was good when I watched it, but the more I thought about it, I cant see it. There had to be a time where they revealed this twist to be untrue, and there was not a real clue, not one that the audience could understand until after the twist was revealed. Which is why I think the elements of the twist were happening throughout the film but once he reached his ultimate goal he knew his mission was fulfilled.

Still I liked the film and some of its good vs. evil messages. I liked the cast, Washington, Gary Oldman, Mila Kunis, Ray Stevenson, Tom Waits and Michael Gambon. They all played interesting parts, and they all brought something different to their roles. I liked this cast, but at times some of the characters could be a little annoying. Oh well though, for a film that carries the message of faith deeply, they didn’t fill it with nonsense. They got off track a few times, but kept to the ultimate message, which is faith can get us through anything.


7/10