The Book of Eli

The first of the religious apocolypse movies this year sets the bar pretty high.

Contrary to critics quoted on recent TV spots it’s not the first must-see movie of the year, unless you see movies every weekend, and then, yeah, see this one first. It’s also not epic. I don’t know where these critics come up with these quotes but this is a relatively small film. It is a great January/February fit between awards and summer. And I'd take it against most of the coming summer popcorn fair, too.

This is The Road Warrior with a studio budget. A lone wanderer, just trying to reach his destination, is pulled into helping an entire community because only he will stand up to the badguys. It takes place some 30 years after a war that ended in nuclear destruction of civilization. Most people died, some survived. Many blamed religion for the wars and they systematically burned all religious books. Eli holds the only surviving copy of the Holy Bible, and he’s been “told by God” to take it west and that he will be protected. The film then expertly takes on a mantra from a bible verse, “walk by faith and not by sight”.

This film is unique because it doesn’t pander to any “broad” audience in a way I don’t ever remember seeing before.  This film manages to stay purely biblical (meaning none of the broad-stroke mysticism you get from most of Hollywood trying not to offend people) without preaching or having any agenda at all. And all without pulling punches. It's just a story about a guy who just happens to be a bad-ass and a Christian (yep, I just said that). It doesn’t appologize for ITS CHARACTER being a little evengelical and it doesn’t appologize for its characters that are purely evil and holding a mirror up to some of our religious leaders of all kinds.

The characters here, and their motivations, are believable, deep, unique, and fleshed out. And it is what makes Denzel's Eli so great to watch on film - even when he seems to be reaching into his Denzel Washington bag of tricks (the moments happen - but it you'll get over them quickly). He, and his bag of tricks, are a lot of fun. And when he whips out his knife, we believe what he’s capable of and can’t wait to see it happen.

Gary Oldman as Carnegie is fully realized and sympathetic as well. He does suddenly develop a southern bible-belt evangelist accent whenever the topic of the book comes up. It's a little hokey, and yet he's so committed, and gets out of the hamming it up quickly enough to save himself, especially as the story moves forward. I felt it was an easy and pretty lame choice as far as the accent goes - but that really only because it's been overdone that way. Oldman still brings his A-game when it comes to playing the intentions so we can forgive the fake southern charmer thing.

Unique here also, is that the antagonist and protagonist both want the same thing with this book, they want to spread the word of God. Eli has been told to go west with it so it can spread and our villian, knowing the power of religion, wants to use it to spread the Word of God as filtered and controlled by him.

For me, this makes him extremely evil. Not only is he seeking control, but he’s doing it through means we know and have seen work time and time again. From cults that divide members from their families through out of context scriptures, to terrorist cells, we see religion used by people that believe they are in the right and doing right all the time. Carnegie's motivations here are truly to bring order. And what's chilling is: you believe him. You know it will work and that he would be successful. He doesn't want to slaughter and enslave mankind, he just wants order. And for a second you'll ask yourself, "if he gets that book, won't the "good word" spread anyway? Maybe Eli should just let him have it." Brrrrrrrrrr. Chills. That's how well it's played.

What's also interesting is something is being said about God and humanity, people and religion, but you honestly have no idea what its conclusion is. I like that, it's a topic study without a presentation from each side. You don't have to think about it, or even care, because the action and story and screenplay are so good.

At the end you think you know what the film has concluded in the underlying thesis. It seems obvious. And then, in the closing seconds, notice the publishing company name on all the books placed on the shelf. You can’t help but know this was intentional and seems to be completely contrary to everything we’ve just explored. It’s interesting to say the least, and deserves a discussion.

But before all that heavy talk, you can gasp at the blood and carnage and explosions. All in all, it is a solid action film. Competent acting and directing provides for suspense in the right spots, tension where it needs to be, emotional nuances, and a plot that is slick enough on top of archetypal characters you can’t help but write solid dialogue for.

Filmmakers Lesson Learned: Good actors can sometimes overcome self-indulgent filmmaking. So cast well. Stay true to your characters, not your plot, not your action scenes, not even your thesis. Your audience will follow. As I've said before, listen to your characters and let them guide you - You are not even God in your own story.