Media

Home Theater Movie Renter's Guide - July, 2010

"The Book of Eli" (Blu-ray) - Reviewed by John Johnson

Synopsis

In a post-apocalyptic earth - I guess like most such stories, after we have blown up everything with nuclear weapons - a man called Eli (Washington) is working his way west towards the coast by any means possible, including whatever cars he can find that still run. There is not much left of what we would call modern conveniences, and Eli has to face vicious hijackers along the way.

Eli carries with him, the Book of Eli, which is actually the last remaining copy of the Bible. He must see that it reaches a colony on the West Coast that is assembling as many books as possible in order to restart civilized human existence.

In one small town, a man named Carnegie (Oldman) is also looking for the Bible, because he wants to use it to reform humanity on his own terms.

Eli reaches that town on his way to the coast, and Carnegie discovers that Eli has the Bible. He does everything in his power to take it away from Eli, but Eli is well armed and well trained in martial arts, so the battle spills a lot of blood.

Will Eli reach the new colony with this one last copy of the most important book humans have known for two millenia?

 

Commentary

At first, I thought this was going to be just another "World War Survivors Wandering in the Wasteland Fighting Over Guns, Cars that work, and Fuel" kind of movie, but it is different, sort of. Nevertheless, it is a bit slow to catch on, then all hell breaks loose.

Technical

The image was sharp, but I didn't care for the under-saturation look. The sound track didn't have much to do except recreate wind through the tumble weeds, gunfire, and the slicing of flesh.

Extras

These include Eli's Journey, A Lost Tale, Commentaries by Washington and the Hughes Brothers, and Starting Over.