The Book of Eli opens thirty years after a nuclear holocaust, with Denzel Washington walking across a ruined America, carrying a book he will kill to protect. Warner Bros. Pictures released the film in the United States on January 15, 2010. The Hughes brothers directed it from a script by Gary Whitta. It runs 118 minutes. It is an action film, a thriller, a science fiction story, and, in its bones, a neo-Western.
Trailer, via VikiTrailers.
A Nomad Walks Into Carnegie’s Town
Washington plays Eli, a nomad who travels on foot across the wasteland of the former United States in search of water. He arrives in a ramshackle town ruled by Carnegie, played by Gary Oldman. Carnegie wants a certain book. His henchmen have been unable to find it. He controls the people through the power he believes that book will give him.
Eli barters with a store owner called the Engineer, played by Tom Waits, to recharge the battery of his portable music player. At the town bar, a gang of bikers attacks him. He kills them all. The scene shows uncanny survival and fighting skills.
Carnegie is impressed. He invites Eli to join his employ. Eli declines. Carnegie then realizes Eli is a literate man like himself, and forces him to stay the night under guard.
Solara Repeats the Prayer
Carnegie’s blind mistress, Claudia, played by Jennifer Beals, brings Eli food and water. Carnegie orders her daughter Solara, played by Mila Kunis, to seduce Eli. He rebuffs her. Solara sees Eli has a book. He offers to share his food and says grace before they eat. In the morning, Carnegie overhears Solara repeating the prayer to her mother. He realizes Eli has the book he has been seeking: a Bible.
Eli sneaks away. Carnegie and his henchmen confront him in the street. Eli refuses to give up the book. Carnegie orders him killed. The battle leaves Eli untouched. Many henchmen are dead. Carnegie is shot in the leg.
Solara catches up to Eli and leads him to the town’s water supply, hoping to accompany him. He traps her inside and continues alone. She escapes, is ambushed by two bandits who attempt to rape her, and Eli reappears and kills them.
One Last Bible, and a Voice in the Wasteland
Continuing west, Eli explains his mission. He has the last remaining copy of the Bible, since all other copies were intentionally destroyed after the nuclear war. He says a voice led him to the book. The film’s tagline states the stakes: “Some will kill to have it. He will kill to protect it.”
The supporting cast is deep. Ray Stevenson plays Redridge, Carnegie’s right hand. Michael Gambon plays George. Frances de la Tour plays Martha. Evan Jones plays Martz. Joe Pingue plays Hoyt. Chris Browning plays the Highjacker Leader. Richard Cetrone plays a Hijacker. Malcolm McDowell appears as Lombardi, uncredited.
Filming began in February 2009 and took place in New Mexico. The budget was $80 million. The worldwide box office was $157.1 million.
Carnegie Wants What Eli Carries
That is a solid return on a mid-budget action film, and it is worth naming plainly: The Book of Eli made its money. The question is what the money bought. The film has a premise with real weight — a world where every Bible has been burned, and one man walks with the last one — and it has Washington, who can hold a long silent stretch of highway better than almost anyone.
Carnegie is the most interesting figure on screen, a literate man in an illiterate world. Oldman plays him as a man who wants what Eli has and cannot take it by force. That is the tension the film runs on, and it is enough to carry the middle.
What the film does with its premise is thinner than the premise deserves. The book is the engine of every scene, and the film keeps its attention on the fights around it. The result is a movie that is easy to watch and hard to remember.
The Numbers
- Release date: January 15, 2010 (U.S., Warner Bros. Pictures)
- Runtime: 118 minutes
- Budget: $80 million
- Worldwide box office: $157.1 million
- Metacritic: 53/100
- Score: 5.3 of 10
The Book of Eli is a film with a good hook and a great lead. Washington and Oldman make the middle worth watching. The wasteland is the setting, and the book is the point. 5.3 of 10.
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