The Book of Eli

Last year the first movie that I saw in theaters was One Missed Call. I don't know if you've seen that or not but I really hope you haven't. If you have, you know it is one of the worst movies of all time. This year, the first movie I saw in theaters was The Book of Eli. I was hoping for something that could get the year at the movies started right. However, I was horribly disappointed. For a about week before I went to see The Book Of Eli all I could see on TV was the one preview which included a critic saying "it will rock your soul." I have no idea what he was smoking because I've had episodes of TV shows rock my soul more than this movie did.

The Book of Eli stars Denzel Washington, Gary Oldman and Mila Kunis in a post apocalyptic world set 30 years in the future. If, God forbid, an apocalypse ever does happen I would really hope that this movie is not showing how the world would handle it. Any concept of society is gone and the world is a dust filled messed in which outlaws rule the land, people are eating other people for food and the only way that you can read is if you were born before this apocalypse. Its nice within the first few minutes of a movie that something has happened that makes me want to keep watching. The Book Of Eli opens with Eli (Washington) hunting, walking, sitting and sleeping. If that doesn't sound exciting enough, it doesn't get much more exciting there. The premise of the movie is that it has taken Eli 30 years to walk across the country. Why its taken him that long, I don't know. It's very hard to write about this movie without spoiling it, or at least some aspects of it. I haven't decided if I want to spoil movies yet here, but for now I'm not going to. Eli has this book that he feels me must protect and get it across the country. Knowing the heavy religion feel of the movie, I bet you've already figured out what it is. Carnegie (Oldman) wants the book and he has a motorcycle gang out looking for it. Eli shows up in this town that Carnegie seems to rule. He has the whole town doing whatever he wants and listening to his commands. He wants the book because he thinks that if he gets it, he will be able to rule all. When Carnegie finds out that Eli has the book, the chase is on. As exciting as that may sound, I've already summed up the first half, maybe more, of the movie. I'd pretty much already had this figured out by the time the trailer and TV spots were over. I won't spoil the climax or the end of the movie. But I will say the twists are overdone, not believable and ironic.

I wanted this movie to be so much better than it was. Except for the occasional slow-mo action scene or the humor offered from Mila Kunis this movie doesn't offer much. If I hadn't been with a friend, I would of walked out of this movie. Yes, it was that boring. This is just another religion based film that falls flat. It takes it too long off the ground and when it finally does, it's shaky. The third act of the film was okay but it doesn't make up for the first two. What was accomplished in the first two acts could of been accomplished in 15 minutes. There are two things that save this film. First, are the parts that Denzel Washington "beasts" it up and does something cool with a slow-mo part. Second, was one of the twists in the end. Again, I won't spoil it but it's so funny and ironic. I'm big on ironic things so that that was a plus for me. Unfortunately, the movie was just too boring and slow to do anything for me. The parts when Denzel Washington does something cool on screen bring the film up from an F to a D-. The one ironic twist brings it up from a D- to a D. There was no other reason for me to like this film. It was boring and the feel of the new post apocalyptic world was something that I couldn't buy into. The film is about faith and believing but you're not given anything to believe in.

Final Verdict: D