A Mediocre 'Book'

by Brett Parker

The Book of Eli is a clunky religious allegory masquerading as a limp post-apocalyptic Western. Thrown into the mix is a twist ending too preposterous to have the impact it desperately desires. The film follows a machete-wielding warrior who tries to spread the word of god in a hostile landscape; its biblical law as grindhouse theatrics. It’s difficult to buy a Christ figure as a violent action figure and even harder to buy a film that surrounds this character with heavy-handed self-importance.

The film takes place in the unspecified future, where a nuclear holocaust has turned the entire world into a grimy wasteland a’ la Mad Max (the cinematography is so skewered by solemn gray hues that it might as well be in black-and-white). A lone wanderer named Eli (Denzel Washington) roams this landscape packing a large machete and a mysterious leather book. It’s really no secret that this book turns out to be a King James Bible and Eli has a mysterious plot to use the book’s teachings to re-establish humanity, somehow. Eli’s days consist of scraping abandoned buildings for food and water while fending off thieving gangs who wish to rob and eat him. This doesn’t prove to be a difficult task, for Eli is a highly skilled fighter who can lay waste to vicious gangs in mere seconds.

Things heat up the day Eli comes across a sinister town gripped by a slimy ruler named Carnegie (Gary Oldman). Through a series of events, Carnegie comes to realize that Eli is in possession of the sacred bible that could salvage mankind. Carnegie tries to take the book from him, but Eli violently stands his ground and refuses to let anyone touch the book. This causes a chase to ensue between Carnegie’s vicious road army and Eli, who has teamed up with an eager young woman (Mila Kunis) to help protect the book at all costs.

With their fifth film, Albert and Allen Hughes continue their theme of unearthing decaying morals in dark and nightmarish environments. The Hughes’ earlier films benefited strongly from the fact that they were rooted in real-life environments, causing their tragic underpinnings to strike us in an achingly real place. Whether it’s the California Ghetto (Menace II Society), Post-Vietnam America (Dead Presidents), or Victorian Era London (From Hell), the Hughes Brothers use dark chapters of history to unearth startling truths and nihilistic ideals within human nature. We feel the brothers falter this time because it’s hard to find human depths in such a shallow fantasy environment. We can feel the brothers trying to harp on the message that a lack of faith (literally) can lead society straight into maddening chaos, but this idea lacks the conviction from the Hughes’ earlier work. How can you pull strong human truths from an environment that’s assembled out of clichés from the post-apocalypse genre?

End-of-the-world movies can be a very sturdy form of cinema, for scenes of disaster and despair can be used to reflect the current anxieties of the contemporary culture. Indeed, The Book of Eli’s collapsed society could very well be seen to represent our current economic and health care state. A good film from this genre offers helpful and insightful messages throughout the bleakness. The Road, for example, was touching in the way it suggested that a strong family bond can help overcome whatever hazards society produces. The Book of Eli tries to pedal faith in God as a survival tactic, but the message comes across as too hokey. The film never explains to us how the Bible can help humanity nor does it go to great lengths to explain why it’s so important. God is God and, like Eli, you’re supposed to accept it point blank. The movie thinks there’s a dramatic weight to its themes that aren’t really there. At one point, Eli recites Biblical verses before battle, and we almost want to laugh at the hollowness of it all.

Denzel Washington is impressive in his fighting sequences (the 55-year-old proudly performed his own stunts), yet is made to be brooding and solemn throughout his characterization. His character makes for a bland hero, and we barely buy his divinity, especially when he’s slicing heads off with his machete. This doesn’t appear to be a fault of Washington’s, but of the script. Would a man who abides strictly by God’s teachings really be such a violent warrior? Wouldn’t it be more appropriate if Eli knew clever ways to defend and not dismember? Is the film suggesting that a man of God has to lay down with the dirty dogs in order to spread the word of the Bible? That a strong man of faith would be broken down by a violent society and transformed into a violent man? The Hughes Brothers, nor Washington, spend much time trying to answer these questions, but instead just try to march through the action plot.

The film is basically a watered-down trudge through a tired Mad Max scenario, which includes motor gangs and fist fights and gun play, etc. In the end, the film tries to push on us a plot twist that re-defines all that has gone before. This twist is a pretty tough sell. I wanted to accept it, but it seems way too implausible. If the film’s message looked tacky before, then the twist causes it to crumble under its own silliness. Like The Sixth Sense, this twist invites you to view the film all over to see how well the hidden secret bounces off the main plot. In this case, however, it feels like sitting through The Book of Eli again just to spot a cheap gimmick would feel like too much of a chore.

Most people will probably want to see this film simply because they enjoy seeing Denzel Washington in an action thriller. They’re better off watching Inside Man, where Washington was actually allowed to be energetic and creative within a superb thriller plot. Others will probably expect a bleak view of the future containing thoughtful relevance. Children of Men is the one to check out. And almost everything the Hughes Brothers did before this film makes this one look like a pathetic cartoon. I’m usually weary of just firing off alternative DVD gems in a bad movie review, but The Book of Eli is such a surprisingly pointless and empty experience that you truly deserve something of weight and intrigue.