The Book of Eli - Thoughts

The Book of Eli either missed my radar, or didn’t intrigue me enough for me to make note of. Shortly after its release a friend watched it in the theatre and said that it was literally the pits. Months later I saw a trailer of it, and it didn’t seem too bad. During one of my recent video store visits I saw it under the action movie section and decided to rent it. From the trailer The Book of Eli looked like a post-apocalyptic story of a secret book and its lone protector. 

For those who have seen the movie, and have had the patience to watch it through to its end, I’d be lying if I said it was extremely interesting. While there are a few decent action sequences, there are several slower moments when the movie tends to drag. The lack of a good backstory and rationale to the post-apocalyptic setting in my opinion is one of the short comings of the flick. That coupled with the vagueness of the whole ‘secret book’ drama results in largely alienating the audience. With its nearly 2 hour runtime, it takes some effort to get to the end with your curiosity intact. That said, the movie is a little more rewarding and worthwhile, assuming you make it to the end successfully. I would recommend the The Book of Eli only if such themes appeal, but otherwise its channel surfing material for most part.

The weaknesses of the movie aside, Denzel Washington does a fine job as Eli. His portrayal of the character is convincing, both the serious mature personality aspect as well as the rugged warrior piece. Similarly Gary Oldman as Carnegie fits the bill of the powerful corrupt town head, comparable to a villain out of the Wild West. Mila Kunis plays Solara, the female lead, and a younger daughter figure sorta character to Eli. She brings to the screen her usual bold personality, in the form of a younger woman, yet to experience much of the outer world. Performances all round were pretty good.

The DVD I was sampling as in most cases was a Region 1 US release. Picture was clear, but the post production color filter added was largely annoying. While it set the visual for a color devoid environment, after the first 10 minutes it lost its charm. The sound was quite a mixed bag, as dialog at times became too soft. Characters would whisper their lines, and then suddenly they would raise their voices or scream. Overall it required for a lot of adjusting of the volume. Surround usage was quite a bit, and this was one of the movies successes. Many of the scenes had noticeable positional sound, and this added to the overall experience. The soundtrack sampled was a Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround.  

My Recommendation: Dicey (A vague post-apocalyptic plot that’s hard to relate to)