Tony Toscano reviews “The Book of Eli”
I was truly excited when I heard Denzel Washington and Gary Oldman were co-starring in a post-apocalyptic sci-fi story. Both actors are favorites of mine.
But that excitement quickly turned to disappointment when I finally saw the finished product. “The Book of Eli” is a kind of mixture between this year’s film “The Road” and Kevin Costner’s mega-flop “The Postman.”
In this story Washington is Eli, a loner trying to get simply from the east of the country to the West Coast, his mission is to bring the very last bible to safety. He travels from desolated town to town trading for water and supplies and fighting the bad guys whenever possible.
The scenes are shot in a kind of washed-out color to give the audience the feeling everything is hot and dry.
When Eli comes to a particularly savage town run by Gary Oldman, his secret is uncovered and Oldman’s character must have the book, as it is the last one and he knows its “power to control men.”
Ok that’s about it, unless you want to count in lovely young Mila Kunis as the daughter of Oldman’s girlfriend.
Kunis befriends Eli and follows him on his quest. And although he doesn’t want her to, it only takes a few movie seconds for them to become a team.
Truly there isn’t anything new or unique about this story.
Over and over again, Gary Oldman is reduced to yelling, “I want that book!” Washington is too stoic and stiff and the film tries too hard to be more a Western than a cautionary tale.
In the end it rates a C and is rated R.
