Religion gets treated with respect so rarely in mainstream Hollywood movies today that when it does, as in “The Book of Eli,” it feels like an event.
It helps that the star in question is Denzel Washington, an actor who oozes gravitas with every spoken line.
But his “Eli” character doesn’t speak much. He’s busy slashing his enemies to bits with a very long, very nasty looking knife.
Yes, if you want religion, Hollywood style, expect a heapin’ helping of violence to help wash it down.
Washington plays an unnamed man on a mission in a post-apocalyptic expanse of America. Everything is bleached out and blasted away, and the simple act of finding fresh water has become a life or death search.
Our hero simply wishes to head West to deliver a precious book he’s been carrying with him for miles. Not much is known of the book, or its carrier. But its religious implications are impossible to deny.
His character keeps getting interrupted in his journey, first by thugs he dispatches with a few swipes of his long blade, and later by a wannabe king (Gary Oldman) who wants the book for himself.
The man who possesses it may have the power to rule this new America.
The Hughes brothers, who gave us “Menace II Society” and “From Hell,” craft “Eli” with the usual post-apocalyptic flourishes. Funky wardrobe choices, burned out cars along every highway and byway and people who clearly are neglecting dental hygiene basics.
The difference, of course, is Washington. He’s never been this mysterious, this downright dangerous, on screen before. It’s a mesmerizing performance and one a film as precarious as “Eli” sorely needs.
The film’s earliest sequences are its best, when the mysteries are in full bloom and the Hughes brothers’ penchant for bristling action is at its peak. One sequence shown in silhouette is simply stunning.
But once Oldman, who begins on a hammy note and only oinks things up a few notches from there, starts overshadowing the film the trouble begins. A comic distraction late in the film proves disastrous, and the less said about the silly ending, the better.
“Eli” treats the content of the book in question with reverence, the sense that faith isn’t just a distraction for “bitter clingers” but a genuine salve for wounded souls. The movie shows the potential to abuse the faith as well, which shows both a keen eye for balance while softening the potential to frighten away non-believers.
“The Book of Eli” isn’t a miracle by any stretch, but it’s the closest thing to salvation for spiritually minded movie goers.
(Photo: Denzel Washington stars in Alcon Entertainment’s action adventure film “The Book of Eli,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures)
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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Yes, if you want religion, Hollywood style, expect a heapin’ helping of violence to help wash it down.
This isn’t as hypocritical as you might think. Check out some of the more violent parts of the Bible. They would make Tarantino retch.
“The Passion” hardly was rated ‘G,’ either – but what Toto touches upon here IS an Industry rarity: respect for the written word (and Word) within the narrative.
The last time I saw this in a Hollywood picture, it was years ago when “Finding Forrester” was released.
~ D
I still can’t figure out what this movie is about, even after reading your review! Such a strange trailer. We thought it was a Mad Max sort of flick, but sounds like we were wrong.
You must see this movie. It is fantastic. I know some Hollywood liberals will hate the subject matter, but the world has to put up with all kinds of stuff being shoved down our throats by Hollywood, so they will have to calm down here.
An action fan (what male isn’t?) and a Christian who actually worked at Silver Pictures where this script was sitting on the shelf in building 90 on the Warner Lot since 2000, I was highly surprised to see it get made…and get made right by the Hughes Bros.
I have since left the film industry behind, the lack of sincerity and blood-and-sweat-worthwhile projects a good part of that equation…but am heartened seeing such a sincerely reverant-for-the-Bible film finally get made.
WELL DONE DENZEL AND WELL DONE HUGHES BROS.
THIS IS A POST-APOCALYPTIC, ACTION-DRAMA BUT NOT UNDER-12 FRIENDLY.
PLEASE GO AND SEE THIS FILM (UNLESS YOU ABSOLUTELY HATE VIOLENCE).
JANUARY IS A DUMPING GROUND FOR STUDIOS WHO DON’T HAVE FAITH IN THEIR FILMS…TIME TO SHOW THEM WRONG ON THIS SOLID PRO-CHRISTIAN, PRO-FAITH-HAVING-POWER ACTIONNER.
I find that those who consider the ending “silly” see it only as a plot device and not the powerful metaphor I took it to be. To avoid spoilers i will simply make reference: Isaiah 42:14-43:13. Surely these words would have been great comfort to Eli as he recited them.