In a world where there is no hope, water is gold, roads are a death wish and Eli walks alone. Eli is a man who has survived thirty years after the final war. He survives in a world where there is no law, no guidance and no commodities as we know them. However, Eli holds the key to a better world and a mission that is only guided by faith. The Book of Eli is now available for you to own on Blu-ray and DVD!
Denzel Washington plays Eli, a man that is walking cross country to find a place where his greatest treasure, a book, can rebuild a society. After thirty years of walking in a wasteland of a country, Eli hasn’t found it – but he hasn’t given up either. He encounters a town where a warlord named Carnegie, played by Gary Oldman, is in search of the book that Eli is trying to protect. Carnegie doesn’t know that Eli has it, but he is impressed by “the walker's” fighting abilities. Carnegie tries to recruit him, but Eli will not get distracted from his mission for anything or anyone. That is until he meets Solara, played by Mila Kunis, the step daughter of Carnegie, and unknown to Eli, the future of humanity. It is a futuristic, post-apocalyptic western, where there is little to no technology and cannibalism is a way of life.
The Hughes Brothers direct this slow starting movie. It is a movie that should have contained more substance and fewer details. The plot becomes cumbersome after the first hour and it is difficult for the audience to follow all of what the writers wanted to achieve with Eli's mission.. The Blu-ray aspects of this movie are amazing. The visualization and imagery of this movie is incredibly detailed and the best thing about this film. The story could have been written better, showing more of the life of Eli – however, the plot twist at the end was completely and utterly unexpected. The action sequences are well done in a modern-western sort of way. This movie was made for Blu-ray. Denzel’s acting was on spot, as well as Oldman’s, and Kunis did a good job in a very different role than what she has done of late.
The more we start loving Blu-ray, the more the intricate the special features get. In this disc, we have the picture-in-picture feature. However, instead of only talking, they have little comparisons of storyboard to film and how scenes were shot, among other things. They also explore life after an apocalypse and what we might do – a small but unique featurette. Besides the additional scenes, there is an animated short of the background life of Carnegie called, “A Lost Tale: Billy”.
All in all, the movie was okay, great for Blu-ray but not for theaters. It is a slow start with a plot twist at the end that is out of the blue, but still fits perfectly at the same time. The acting is good, but the directing is mediocre at best.
ComicsOnline gives The Book of Eli 3 out of 5 cannibals.
Purchase The Book of Eli on Amazon by clicking here.
Keep it here at ComicsOnline.com for more Blu-ray reviews and everything geek pop culture.
