Movie Review: The Book of Eli

By Sky Holzinger in Arts and Culture on 1/25/10

I went to see The Book of Eli last week. In short it was an artistic, slightly-profound action movie. It was just provocative enough to keep me and the guys I saw it with talking for the drive back, but no too much; it was like a snack.
The story, if you haven’t heard, is a post-apocalyptic survivor tale about a man in possession of the world’s last Bible. Eli (Denzel Washington) is a Christian nomad with a call from the Lord to go west. Standing in his way is the chief of wild-west settlement bent on controlling Eli’s book.
The film is actually quite a statement. Eli tells us that people destroyed all the Bibles because they thought it was the reason for the war. What’s he trying to say about our current culture and values? It’s saying we need to concentrate on starting a Bible quiz team so when our Bible’s are seized by Homeland Security we’ll have a backup in our heads. Don’t be surprised if the film doesn’t get too much press. Eli’s Biblical Values are coupled with lots of sweet action scenes including machetes, explosions, .50 cal machine guns, flipping armored cars, and cannibals. The combination of thought-provoking themes, bloody action, and surreal apocalyptic cinematography makes this film a good choice for guy’s night out.

Check out the trailer here:
http://www.apple.com/trailers/wb/thebookofeli/

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