|
A murderous thug confronts the religious warrior Eli (Denzel Washington) in the apocalyptic science fiction thriller “The Book of Eli.” |
On paper, or on a computer screen, “The Book of Eli” must have looked like an irresistible synthesis of popular Hollywood genres. It’s a science-fiction thriller, a samurai epic, a spaghetti western, an apocalyptic religious drama and an “Odyssey”-like quest all rolled up into one style-overloaded, color-bled cinematic ball.
This is the first feature directed by the Hughes Brothers – Allen and Albert – since 2001’s “From Hell.” And like that Jack the Ripper opus, “The Book of Eli” slowly buckles under the weight of its pretentious artiness, here, a constant parade of slow-motion shots and bleak landscapes of a desolated world in ruin.
As we quickly discover, the old world has been wiped out by some kind of natural phenomenon involving a hole in the atmosphere and a “flash” that fried most of the world’s population, leaving behind scattered groups of survivors constantly being assaulted by roving gangs of rapists and cannibalistic predators.
Denzel Washington plays an enigmatic traveler on a quest to head west.
His mission is to take an old, tattered book to some vague place of sanctuary, and it doesn’t take long to figure out what the book really is, and that he might be under the protection of a higher power. (Read more…)