The Book of Why?

February 4, 2010  
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The Book of Eli starts off pretty violently for a movie based on a religious text. The camera pans across a dead man getting his legs eaten by rats. The shot then pans over various scenes of a post-apocalyptic world. It is clear that something bad happened, but that it was a long time ago. Broken buildings are covered in sand and rust, and every person has to scrounge around for food.

The Book of Eli is certainly the most captivating movie about a bible currier that I’ve ever watched. Sorry if I ruined the surprise, although the movie’s title and the trailers kind of give it away. It doesn’t matter much in the first 3/4ths of the movie. All Eli does is kill everyone he meets, probably because they are all trying to kill him for his bible.

At this point I expected some sort of religious significance to be injected into the story. But the bible could have been a large diamond or money or any other sort of secret that others covet. Instead of turning into some sort of end of the world movie, it switches gears and becomes a western.

Eli eventually meets up with the leader of a town, Carnegie, who’s after his precious bible. In true western fashion, Eli falls for his wife’s daughter, and chaos ensues.

The movie is visually beautiful, all the scenes are well shot, and the world that Eli lives in appears desolate without going over the top, like 2012 or The Day After Tomorrow. Denzel Washington gives a good performance as Eli, but he is a pretty silent main character.

The story is where the movie falls apart. There is never any explanation as to why Eli seems to be able to kill whomever he wants. And the rationale for why a man who carries a bible shoots everyone he sees seems flimsy at best. But the surprise ending is the worst part. It fails to wrap up anything and creates more questions than it answers.

I would recommend this movie to people the same way I recommended Avatar. See it to take in the stunning setting and watch things go boom, just don’t expect anything out of the story.

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Schuyler Foulke

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