You can usually count on Denzel Washington to give a good performance and The Book of Eli is no different. Denzel is asked to mostly carry the film on his own, a task he is more than up for. Sure, you have the wonderfully criminal Gary Oldman giving us his usually spot-on character piece, but it's Denzel that the narrative mostly follows giving us a study of a man left with one sole purpose.
The story is about this purpose. Denzel travels along a post-apocalyptic wasteland with a special book in his possesion. As he tries to get this book to where it'll make a difference in this new world, he comes across Oldman, who rules a town with an iron fist and has been searching for such a book himself. When he discovers that Denzel has one he stops at nothing to try to make it his own.
The trailers to this movie looked fantastically slick, so I was hoping the cinematography captured in those would transfer over well throughout the whole film, and it did. The Hughes Bros gave us a gorgeous and entertaining motion picture that can be viewed as a work of art. Truly this is the driving impetus of the film. That's not to say that it is only reason to watch. The aforementioned performances are wonderful. The pacing is deceptive, as it's slow one minute and break-neck the next, a strength of the Hughes from the beginning of their careers. It's a shame that this was their first feature since From Hell. The action sequences are fantastic, and the story is simple, but makes sense, and never gets in the way of the journey.
Overall, this was a fine film. It's serious without being depressing, but clearly angled toward an audience that can equally enjoy an action flick and great filmmking. Give it a rent!
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