The Book of Eli - 2010

Directors: Albert & Allen Hughes

Writer: Gary Whitta

Starring: Denzel Washington, Gary Oldman, Mila Kunis

"The war tore a hole in the sky, the sun came down, burnt everything, everyone, I wandered, I didn't really know what I should do or where I was going. I was just moving from place to place,trying to stay alive.And then one day I heard this voice.I don't know how to explain it, it's like it was coming from inside me. But I could hear it clear as day. Clear as I can hear you talking to me now. It told me to carry the book west, it told me that a path would be laid out before me, that I'd be led to a place where the book would be safe it told me I'd be protected,against anyone or anything that tried to stand in my way. If only I would have faith. That was thirty years ago and I've been walking ever since." A single man (Washington) is tasked to carry a mysterious book westward, protecting it from those like Carnegie (Oldman) who would use it to do wrong.

One of many recent entries in the cover-everything-with-dust-and-slightly-desaturate post-apocalyptic films, The Book of Eli is surprisingly good, perhaps a nice companion piece to The Road if you care for something less depressing and with more action. Washington and Oldman are never disappointing, with Washington even doing all his own stunts, shocking for a 55-year-old-man. However, the longer the film ran, the more I thought about a major aspect of the premise: most people in this society, even if they were around before the event, have no idea whatsoever of prewar culture and society (not even literacy). THIS MAKES NO SENSE. Just because something's old doesn't mean people can't be aware of it, and just because we're forced into the barter system doesn't mean we stop teaching people to read. Beyond that, though, the last five minutes reveal a twist of Shyamalanic proportions which pushes suspension of disbelief to new bounds. Maybe it would have worked had the writer mentioned this early on and EXPLAINED a bit more, but as is, made me go from enjoyable to almost an entire waste of time. D-