Book Of Eli Review

I have now seen The Book Of Eli twice (don't ask) and, in terms of reviewing it, it's no bad thing. On my ten worst films of the year list is Orphan, a film that pulled a gloriously, hilariously, shamelessly stupid last minute twist out of absolutely nowhere. The Book Of Eli contains a reveal that, while not quite as moronic, is definitely in the same ballpark. If Orphan is actually on the playing field then The Book Of Eli is selling the hotdogs in the stand. What's funny is that, watching it for the second time, I could see all those moments where directors The Hughes Brothers tried to plant a clue, tried to play fair with the audience, and one or two I would concede are pretty decent. The problem is that to properly play fair you would have to be considerably cleverer film makers than the Hughes Brothers, but, really, what they're trying to do is so implausible that I genuinely struggle to imagine a way of pulling it off. I so want to talk about it but I couldn't spoil the surprise!

Denzel Washington is Eli, a lone samurai wandering the wilderness in the aftermath of nuclear holocaust. He is carrying a book and to talk properly about the film I need to say what the book is. It's fully revealed before the half way mark and the trailers have all but given it away anyway but stop reading now if you don't want to know... Okay?... Right...

Denzel is carrying the last remaining copy of the Bible. The war was started on religious grounds and the survivors made sure that every remaining copy was destroyed. This is quite a stretch, quite a big ask of the audience but, given what's to follow, it's one of the easier things to swallow in the film. Anyway Denzel is on a quest, heading east, taking the book to a safe place. Denzel has an old fashioned Ipod, running off what looks to be a car battery, and when he loses power he wanders into a town to recharge it and get supplies. The town is run by evil Carnegie (Gary Oldman in full on villain mode) who has teams of bandits roaming the land looking for... you guessed it, a copy of the bible. You see Carnegie knows how powerful the book is, knows how, if he has it, he will be able to control not just one small town, but the whole WORLD! Mwa ha ha ha! Carnegie and Eli face off, Eli escapes and Carnegie, who will risk and sacrifice anything and anyone to get the book, chases him with his army of disposable henchmen.

The Book Of Eli has two things going for it. Firstly, this core idea of the corrupting influence of religion, its ability to control the masses, and how a survivor of nuclear armageddon wants it for those purposes, is a strong one. In a film that didn't cost $80 million and without big name stars, this could have been a really compelling, character driven and subtle story. Instead, in one corner we have Saint Denzel and in the other we have Evil Oldman. Part of the problem is the casting. You don't have Gary Oldman as your villain and then tie him down. You want to let him loose, let him chew up the scenery, but in so doing you lose any of the potential grey the story might have had. Similarly Denzel does big, broad emotions and here he is playing GOOD! Ultimately what happens is that, the central notion isn't really explored with any great significance or depth and you end up wondering what might have been. The second thing the film has going for it are the fight sequences. I'm no great Denzel Washington fan but he is surprisingly adept at dispatching bad guys with a sword. The Hughes Brothers make the great decision not to cut those fights with lightening speed. Indeed, Eli's first encounter with hijackers on the road in which he takes on 6 or 7 men, one wielding a chainsaw, occurs in one sustained shot from quite a way back. The choreography is great, Denzel has clearly put the work in and is convincing, and the directors know that they just have to sit back and let it happen. In these times of action sequences being edited like the editor is taking Speed for his ADD, it's refreshing and feels strangely new.

But the film as a whole is really quite dull and the tone of the whole thing is so lugubrious, so humourless, each frame, everything from the music to the cinematography, demanding that you take it with utter seriousness and total sincerity as if it were the very book its titular character is carrying. If you're not really going with the film, as I wasn't, this makes the whole thing fall on the wrong side of laughable. Part of this problem lies with Denzel. It's not that he's bad, and as I said, in terms of the physical stuff he's excellent, but he's just so... earnest. "I walk the Earth. I carry my book. I pray every day. I'm Denzel, you will take me seriously" Any film asking me to take it this seriously needs to earn that and, in the end, The Book Of Eli doesn't. It's a half baked genre movie with some good ideas, a couple of great fights, long stretches of nothing, WAY too many slow motion "Denzel looking cool while walking" shots and a truly hilarious ending. It also contains one of the weirdest shots I've seen in a film in a long time and the strangest shot of Denzel Washington I think I've ever seen where, not only has he had his beard shaved, but his whole head has been shaved too and he is dressed in an ankle length, snow white robe... Unintentionally funny.

Every film I've reviewed this month has had the same line. "It's not terrible, it's just not that great." And guess what? I've seen worse, I've also seen considerably better. I feel that I am way overdue a genuinely great film. Come on 2010, surely you're better than last year?

5/10