Review: ‘The Book of Eli’ stumbles with its stern moralizing
The Book of Eli boldly tries to fuse religious preaching with sunbaked action.
Cinema and religion can agree on one thing – the world will end in a burst of fire. Where they differ is in describing what comes after, and Hollywood has generally avoided sorting saints from sinners in favor of shotguns and road warriors. The Book of Eli boldly tries to go where blockbusters fear to tread, and fuses religious preaching with sunbaked action. However, it ultimately stumbles with its stern moralizing and becomes uncomfortably evangelical.
The plot of Eli packs few surprises. Eli (Denzel Washington) is making his slow and weary way across a desolate America. In his possession is a book – a very important book – and he’s determined to protect it at all costs. Viewers may already suspect just what book it is, and any hope they have that it’s a manual on electrical engineering or The Complete Works of William Shakespeare are sure to be disappointed.
Though he walks with a cool serenity, Eli is no stranger to violence, and those who cross him and threaten his mission risk dismemberment. His arrival in a thriving border town immediately attracts the interest of its despotic mayor Carnegie (Gary Oldman) who hopes Eli will lend his blade to his thirst for expansion. He tries to tempt him with bread, water, and the body of Solara (Mila Kunis) but quickly realizes Eli can’t be bought – and that he’s carrying something far more desirable than weaponry in his backpack.
This dogmatic devotion cripples the film. While it’s daring for filmmakers to take a Judeo-Christian stance, the film runs the risk of alienating viewers who don’t share that faith. The reason for the book’s importance and desirability is appallingly heavy-handed. About halfway through the film, the Hughes seem to have decided it was a bit much, and have Eli experience another religious reawakening before doubling back and deciding the message really isn’t as important as the pages that contain it. It’s a strange film that has a prophet who is as callous as a bounty hunter, and “non-believers” embodying kinder principles than the man who is supposedly saving them.
Unfortunately, the Hughes Brothers also used up all their audacity in their pulpit, because the rest of the film is a hodgepodge of other post-apocalyptic stories. Eli lifts heavily from Cormac McCarthy’s The Road in particular, peppering its world with his mummified bodies, spooky farmhouses, and ash-covered forests. It’s as though the Hughes read McCarthy and thought he had a good start and all, but felt his familial focus – “each the other’s world entire”— was just too narrow, and that his musings were just too bitter and sad. In the end times, the remnants of mankind must have something higher than survival or hope to drive them to the coast. They must also have a flashier future where survivors can have cool sunglasses, reinforced cars, and i-Pods. Their future has scope enough for Sergio Leone-style landscapes and character entrances, rabble straight out of Mad Max, and 300 style speed-ramping. If you too thought The Road was lacking such slick stylizings, then Eli will answer your prayers.
Eli isn’t a terrible film. It has a striking, eerie soundtrack, some gorgeous cinematography, and predictably good performances from Washington and Oldman. There’s also nothing wrong with blending faith, action, and a little style. Cinema should take some risks with religious topics. The problem with Eli is that it leaves no room for doubts, it’s impatient with religious history, and it’s a morality tale of little morality. The Hughes Brothers may think their story brings tidings of great joy, but audiences may prefer heroes that quietly carry the fire over militant missionaries.
I was bored by the movie, through and through. I don’t know if the moralizing irritated me, but the fact that it didn’t venture into any interesting territory with it’s premise certainly did.