THE BOOK OF ELI - Post-Apocalyptic Western

Go See this movie.

PLOT:
This post-apocalyptic western tells the tale of a single specially-chosen, uniquely-gifted man who fights his way across America in order to defend from extinction the last existing copy of a sacred book; a book that holds the secret to the salvation of the human race.

I am a sucker for well done post-apocalyptic films, and this one does not disappoint. The Book of Eli brought back memories of Fahrenheit 451, Equilibrium, and Children of Men, all which I enjoyed. I could have gone without remembering the 1979 Mad Max movie, and the cheesy sequels that followed. But how can that be avoided in a film that shows marauding gangs in cars and on motorcycles running up and down abandoned highways? There is rumor that a 3D Mad Max 4 is now in the planning stages. Lord help us.

To me, it is fascinating to imagine what the world would be like after a cataclysm. Of course, movie-makers always portray a world in which brutal forces rule the weak, and people are either already in chaos, or are teetering precariously on the knife edge of oblivion; this film does too. But there is always a hero in the mix, someone to stand against the persistent human evil, or in this case, someone who stands outside of it; someone with an entirely different agenda. In that sense, this movie is different.

Denzel Washington delivers a masterful performance. I like him anyway, but this film lets him shine in new ways. Gary Oldman is perfectly cast as the villain, Carnegie, for this film; an apparent doppelganger reference to philanthropist Andrew Carnegie - who promoted literacy, and funded the building of public libraries across America, in the UK and other countries in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.

The supporting cast, Malcolm McDonald, Tom Waits, Mila Kunis, Jennifer Beals, Ray Stevenson all contributed hugely to the credibility of the story. Mila Kunis, Jackie, from "That 70s Show," delivered an excellent performance and is growing into a maturity on screen worthy of her acting abilities. I think we will see more of her in the future.

The fight scenes in this film are violent, bloody and exhilarating - yes - but not unnecessary. It could have been much worse in terms of guts and gore, but what was shown was apropos to the genre and to the story line, and not without humor.

There are several interesting twists and turns that satisfy us with scenes of poetic justice, and the ever present and improbable Hollywood depictions of good gun-slingers who can hit their target with one shot and the evil gun-slingers who have to use a thousand bullets to imperfectly hit theirs. Why are the bad guys such bad shots in movies when real life is so much the opposite?

Anyway, for those, like me, who like this kind of film, you will probably like it. The kicker, of course, is WHAT The Book of Eli really is, and how it uniquely finds its way into the hands of those who will determine its ultimate fate.