The Book of Eli

Welcome to the 1st episode of The "D" List in 2010.

Today's review is The Book of Eli. Directed by Allen and Albert Hughes also known as the Hughes Brothers. Written by Gary Whitta.

Some will kill to have it. He will kill to protect it.

This was the tag line attached to a film that had a lot of hype on it's side. An all star cast headlined by 2 of the world's finest and the return of cinema's better directing duo's. Depending on your point of view, this film fails to deliver on said hype.....sort of. Before I get into why I feel this way here's the breakdown.

In an unspecified year, the world has been ravaged by a massive war that sends society into an apocalyptic state. There is no law or order. Food and water is scarce and cannibalism is rampant. We are then introduced to Eli played by everyone's favorite, Denzel Washington. He walks the land in search of usable supplies and food while on a quest. He possesses the last bible on earth and believes he was tasked by god to deliver the book to a specific location. Along Eli's travels he passes through a town run by Carnegie played by a fantastic and underrated Gary Oldman. Carnegie is searching for a bible so he can use it's ability to manipulate the people who still have faith in god while trying to expand his territory and power.

At first glance there appears to be nothing wrong with the plot of this film. At it's core, the story is original and intriguing. The problem with the film was the execution of the plot. If I had to review The Book of Eli in 1 word. That word would be SLOW!!!!!!!! The movie is painfully slow between action scenes or plot arcs that you start to care less and less about Eli's journey. This is a major shame because there is SO MUCH good in this film. It just takes too long for us to experience it that when you finally get to it, the impact feels like a tap on the shoulder when it should be a kick to the gut. This was what I meant about the film failing to deliver on the hype.....sort of. The plus side is that there was a lot to like about this movie. Here's the lowdown.

The Cast - Denzel Washington. Need I say more? Not convinced? OK. Gary Oldman. These 2 play the hero and villain to perfection but there's just 1 problem. Eli is not a hero. He's a man tapped by god to complete a task. The rest of the world's affairs do not concern him. There's a great scene that expresses that. I promise it's not spoiler material but if you feel compelled to skip this portion I will not be offended. On his journey he comes across 2 people being mugged. At that moment, Eli is conflicted. He wants to help but his involvement takes him off his path. As he's wrestling with the decision the people are being attacked. It's a pretty intense scene to watch for the simple fact that it pains Eli to leave the people being attacked and continue on his way. This is what makes the relationship between Eli and Carnegie so great. Eli doesn't care about how Carnegie is abusing his people. All he cares about is delivering the bible. That is until you cross him. Then we get to see the fun Eli.

I think we get the point when it comes to Denzel. I think Mr. Oldman deserves some love here. Take away the undeniable fact that he's an amazing actor. He has playing a movie villain down to a science. From his role as Drexel Spivey in True Romance to Stansfield in Leon a.k.a The Professional to Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg in The 5th Element and finally as Mason Verger in Hannibal. The man is great at being bad. He doesn't disappoint as Carnegie. There's this calculated method to the way he operates in the town to how he treats his underlings to how he handles disappointment when his people fail to find the bible. More importantly he doesn't blink in the face of Denzel's greatness. It's not unheard of to see Denzel overpower a scene with a "lesser" talent. That doesn't happen here. Oldman holds his own and in fact commands more respect in certain scenes. The bottom line here is with 2 hollywood heavyweights opposing each other the end result can't be anything other than BRAVO!

The Hughes Brothers - The brother's are back folks. For those of you not privy to their past work, they directed Dead Presidents, From Hell and Menace II Society. From Hell was their last film and it tanked. This was their 1st directorial effort since then and happily, they have returned to their roots as accomplished visual directors. They understand how to craft a scene to create the right amount of emotion whether it be fear, suspense, drama, anger, whatever. The cinematography was amazing, there was a very impressive gun battle that was done entirely in 1 shot. This in the film world is called a tracking shot. There wasn't a single edit made the entire time from the battle's beginning to it's climax. Very impressive. This further demonstrates the brother's ability to use style but not let it overpower the narrative. They blended it together to create a harmonious balance that you clearly see on screen. The only "but" I have here is the aforementioned snail like pacing. You make a couple of trims and tighten some scenes up and you get a much more fluid pic.

The Story - As I alluded to earlier, the story was very original and intriguing. The pacing was getting to me so much that I was going to blast this film until.........The end. There's a twist in the film that I didn't see coming. I dare not mention any more because this moment in the film saved the experience for me. Unfortunately I can't make any further comments for fear that I may let something slip that could reveal what made the film's climax so strong.

On the 5 star scale. The Book of Eli gets 3 stars with a "Go See It!" recommendation. The scores and recommendation would have been higher had it not been for the dragging pace. If you can look past that (and I hope you do) there is a fantastic film here worthy of your viewing.

That's all for today. My next review will be Legion. I plan on catching this sometime this week.

Until Next Episode....."I'll Save You A Seat!"

"D"