There are few actors who I will pay money to see without knowing a great deal about the movie I'm paying for, simply because they're in it. It takes a hell of an actor to get money out of me regardless of the film. Before seeing The Book of Eli, I knew 2 things: 1) It was a post-apocalyptic drama film. And 2) It starred not one, but two actors who I will blindly support, Denzel Washington and Gary Oldman. Yeah...the chances that I would not see this movie were about a thousand to one.
I've never quite been able to put my finger on what it is I like so much about Denzel Washington. I think it's a combination of his voice and his poise. No matter what part he's playing, Denzel always has that certain swagger and always seems to be in control. Even in movies where he's clearly not in control, like The Hurricane, he's still got that same poise. He's especially fantastic in Malcolm X, American Gangster and one of the best movies of all time, Training Day.
On the other hand, I know exactly why I like Gary Oldman. The man is a complete chameleon. In every movie he's in, he never looks anything ike he did in the one before. Remember how in Tropic Thunder you would occassionaly forget that the guy playing Osiris was Robert Downey, Jr? Well, Gary Oldman is able to create that same effect without ever needing any kind of crazy makeup effects. And it's not just his face that he can disguise. His voice, his attitude, it's all maleable to the character he's portraying.
Top Row: True Romance, The Dark Knight and The Professional
Bottom Row: The Fifth Element, Harry Potter and The Book of Eli
Yep...same guy.
But enough about what great actors Washington and Oldman are. Let's talk Book of Eli. It's gonna be a little tough to talk about this flick without ruining anything, so you'll have to excuse me if I don't divulge too many details. It's an undisclosed time in the future after an assumed nuclear apocalypse and humanity isn't much concerned with rebuilding, more so just trying to survive. As with most survival tales, morality has been thrown by the wayside in favor of survivalism. There's not a whole lot of nice people left in this world.
Denzel Washington plays a mysterious lone walker who is making his way west. The film tells you why he's heading west, so I will not. His "path" and his motivation are clear only to him for the majority of the movie, but rest assured that your questions will be answered before the end credits, so don't get frustrated with the flick early on. All you're given is that he has something that needs to be in the west and that he's taking it there.
Gary Oldman, on the other hand, is staying right where he is. And why wouldn't he? The man owns an entire town, has an army of mercenaries, controls the area's most precious resource and has a sweet ass high-backed leather chair. Things are going swimmingly but, like most powerful men, he craves even more power. And when the mysterious drifter wanders into his town, Carnegie (Oldman) quickly realizes he possesses something that he would very much like to make his own. This sets up a standard, but awesome, good vs evil scenario pitting Denzel Washington and Gary Oldman in an Awesome Actor Battle Royal Extravaganza!
Both of the headlining actors do a spectacular job and are backed up by a pretty solid supporting cast which includes Flea from Red Hot Chili Peppers, Ray Stevenson of Rome and Punisher: War Zone fame (side note: War Zone was way better than the Thomas Jane/John Travolta Punisher), and the always gorgeous Mila Kunis.
The film isn't without its downsides however, but thankfully there're only two. The first is that some of the CGI is a little dodgy. But not in the way you would expect. Special effects, like explosions and whatnot, look fine. It's the simpler effects that look strange. The movie was filmed 300 style in front of a green screen and it's really noticeable in certain spots. The other nitpick I have is the product placement. Now, I'm not opposed to product placement and Book of Eli doesn't have any more of it than your standard movie, but because of the surroundings, they're incredibly blatant. Seeing an entire deserted highway where every car has been blown to bits except for that Busch Beer truck is a little jarring. And there're plenty of those moments. Maybe you won't think they're as bad as I did, but everytime I saw an instance of it, I was taken out of the flick for a second.
All in all, go see Book of Eli. It's a fantastic story with stellar acting, solid action beats, a great concept, and plenty of well done "make ya think" moments. Also, M. Night Shyamalan should be forced to watch the twist at the end over and over again in order to understand how you do a twist with subtlety. Ya don't have to bash us over the head with it, M.N.S.! The Book of Eli is an incredibly smart film that doesn't treat it's audience like idiots. Think of the Stephen King book The Stand mixed with Fallout 3...and Denzel Washington and Gary Oldman are there...and Mila Kunis being hot.
8.5/10
