The Book of Eli

"The Book of Eli" is directed by the Hughes Brothers (a.k.a. Albert and Allen Hughes). It stars Denzel Washington ("The Taking of Pelham 123"), Gary Oldman ("The Dark Knight"), and Mila Kunis ("Family Guy").

It's the end of the world...yet again. Eli (Denzel Washington) is guarding a book...a special book - if you think hard enough you will figure out what book it is rather quickly. Eli thinks that he has the last copy known to man and that it will greatly help the post-apocalyptic human race. This really isn't explained to a great extent. Carnegie (Gary Oldman) is the mayor of one of the last surviving towns and is desperately trying to get his hands on the book. Yeah, that's about it...more or less...so the trailer actually didn't lie.

I love Denzel Washington. So that was one of the main reasons why I wanted to see this movie. He is a fantastic lead actor and has a great command of the screen. Denzel Washington apparently also knows how to use guns and various weapons extremely well; he's kind of a force not be reckoned with. It nice to see him do a role like this after seeing him as a subway dispatcher in "The Taking of Pelham 123." They are pretty different. Gary Oldman is also a great actor and interacts well with Denzel Washington. He's kind of the anti-Lt. Gordon. Mila Kunis is actually a decent actor...who knew after being associated with "That 70s Show" and "Family Guy." She's a nice addition to the cast and got to work well with the two lead actors.

The movie looks great visually. All of the colors that are used are very dark and dull. This seems to make sense since the world has ended. So the tone of the movie is apparent from the beginning. The camera work is also very good...some nice tracking shots of trucks coming down a highway, close-ups and other unique points of view.

Several movies lately have dealt with the end of the world. Apparently Americans like watching that sort of thing. So that aspect of the story is not original. The rest of the story is pretty interesting to watch. The movie drags on slightly and there's some script issues which aren't surprising since the action sequences are the main focuses of the movie.

"The Book of Eli" was entertaining. The main cast was great and it was visually nice to watch. The movie has gotten mixed reviews, but it was a lot better than Rottentomatoes.com would lead me to believe. I'm assuming that people who have seen the trailer or heard anything about this movie already have decided whether they will be seeing it in theaters or renting it or avoiding it at all cost...so follow your gut. 2 1/2 stars out of 4 stars....I most likely wouldn't have seen it opening day if not for the two leads. There are a lot of movies that I have previously reviewed that have been better...

-Joseph Sbrilli