It’s the end of the world as we know it, again

Denzel goes Mad Max

By Alex Mugford

The Book of Eli Starring Denzel Washington, Mila Kunis, Gary Oldman, and Malcolm McDowell Warner Bros. 118 mins Rated 14A

With the market being flooded with post-apocalyptic movies these past few months, one can’t help but mash all of them together for comparison. This film would be the lesser of the bunch.

It’s been 30 years since the war destroyed the earth, of course. Some humans have turned into cannibalistic savages while others have banded together to live in ramshackle towns. One particular town is run by Carnegie (Oldman), who rules with a faction of rather illiterate goons.

He sends these goons out into the wasteland to search for a certain book, but when they bring back copies of The Da Vinci Code and a dictionary, he orders them to be burned. Then Eli (Washington), walks into town. Just like Clint Eastwood in an old western, he kicks up a stink at the ol’ saloon and catches the eye of Carnegie.

After Eli refuses to join his team, Carnegie sends in Solara (Kunis), his slave, to do some reconnaissance. Carnegie learns that Eli is in possession of the last remaining copy of the King James Bible, the exact book he is looking for, and thus the hunt begins.

This film is a comic book film at heart and a graphic novel probably would have been a better medium for the story. The film has almost no colour to speak of. It amplifies the hopeless, post-apocalyptic feel of the film.

The directors – the Hughes brothers – did after all adapt Alan Moore’s graphic novel From Hell into a 2001 Johnny Depp film.

The saturated lack of colour also gives a chance for the directors to play with shadow and silhouettes. One great fight scene is shot totally in silhouette. When Eli slaughters a band of thieves you can easily pick out the highly stylistic brutality of the scene.

During the action sequences, special care was taken to plot out the movement of the camera. There are some amazing shots of bullets tearing through a house, then the camera pans around to see the people inside, for example. Camera movements like these keep you immersed in the action and make the film more effective and enjoyable.

Eli is the calm and cool protagonist who is part prophet, part kung-fu ninja and has absolutely no trouble killing any of these moronic goons.

Denzel Washington and Gary Oldman are perfect in their roles. Even the sounds effects are comic book-like. The gunshots, machete slices, punches and falls are all extremely exaggerated and when you hear one of those gunshots you can feel it in the low throttle of the bass speakers.

Finally, the film sparks some of the more interesting ideas about religion seen in a film. Carnegie runs the small shantytown but like any good villain, he wants more. He wants the Bible to unite the world and rule it with religion.

Carnegie says that he needs the right words; a weapon to control the weak and desperate. He said it happened before and it will happen again, and the only way to rule more than one town is with the words of the Bible.

This is an extremely powerful statement and you might find the post-movie conversation with your friends more enjoyable than the actual movie.

2.5 out of 4 stars

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