The Book of Eli | In Search of a Midnight Kiss

A good-enough entry into the post-apocalyptic genre that nevertheless leaves you longing for something better, the Hughes Brothers´ The Book of Eli at least marks a return to filmmaking for the talented directors, nine years after From Hell and a decade and a half removed from their best work, Dead Presidents and Menace II Society. Eli stars Denzel Washington as the titular character, who (with his book) wanders the barren wasteland of a post-apocalyptic (presumably Southwestern) United States. He searches for fresh water, hunts cats to survive (and uses fresh “cat oil” in lieu of chapstick – it´s great for the lips), and disposes of roving Road Warrior-like gangs in mere seconds. The first 20 or 30 minutes of the film are the best; we don´t quite know what happened or what´s happening, but a richly detailed feel for the setting more than makes up for the lack of story. Soon Eli finds himself in a makeshift town – think Sergio Leone spaghetti westerns; one of the villains even whistles the main theme from Once Upon a Time in America throughout (why they use the theme from Leone´s one popular non-Western, I do not know). He´s there for a quick charge for his iPod and some water from the local saloon, but soon he´s sidetracked by the ‘mayor´ of the town, Carnegie (gee, I wonder if the name is referencing anything). Carnegie is played by Gary Oldman in a bizarre performance that seems to draw from Jack Nicholson, Peter Fonda, and Robert Evans. I wish I could say it was more memorable. A plot soon develops, and a collective sigh sweeps through the audience; not that the story here isn´t without interest, but it lacks the awesomeness that the genre yearns for. Mad Max – and particularly its sequel, The Road Warrior – defined the post-apocalyptic genre in the late 70s/early 80s, and I´m still waiting for a film that live up to those standards. (Beware mild spoilers through next few graphs) As many will soon deduce, the book that Eli is carrying with him is the Bible. And not just any Bible, but perhaps one of the only ones in existence; Bibles were burned some years ago, thought to have been the cause of the Great War that left the world in decay. Unlikely, sure – at the very least, this is the digital post-apocalyptic age, and Eli could fit the information from the Good Book 100 times over in his iPod. And I wonder what happened to the Qur´an or the Torah, but I digress Eli is travelling west with his book because a vision from God told him so. Carnegie wants that book bad, and he´s willing to do anything to get it. His blind servant Claudia (Jennifer Beals), her daughter Solara (Mila Kunis), and his right-hand man Redridge (Ray Stevenson) get mixed up in his quest. Carnegie wants to use the power of the Bible for his own evil purposes (though he seems smart enough, and the rest of the characters stupid enough, to be able to create his own religion for them to blindly follow) and Eli wants to use the teachings for good. It´s not the most compelling story, but it makes for interesting stuff, the blatant good/bad use of Christianity rare for mainstream Hollywood fare. Deep in the third act, however, Eli begins to drag. A semi-predictable, but wildly implausible ‘twist´ doesn´t help. Note for filmmakers: audiences are willing to accept one big implausibility in a film, but when you include that implausibility in a twist ending, you´re asking for trouble. Had we known what was up from the beginning, no issues. The Book of Eli is Washington´s movie, and he carries it easily; disheveled, soft-spoken, and usually hidden beneath sunglasses, he still radiates a strong presence. Supporting cast doesn´t offer too much, though Stevenson has two nice scenes, and Tom Waits shows up as an iPod repairman. And while the script by Gary Whitta feels rather unfinished and less than fully satisfying, the Hughes Brothers have turned it into an entirely watchable film. Biggest kudos go to the production team, who have turned the potentially cheesy material into something unusually (for the genre) serious. Most post-apocalyptic landscapes look similar: ravaged deserts with crumbling roads and abandoned automobiles, but I´m pretty sure the production designers and some of the other crew on The Book of Eli are fans of Bethesda´s Fallout 3; certain shots, and the overall tone of the film, are strikingly similar to the popular (and immensely satisfying) video game.