Sunday, June 27, 2010

The Book Of Eli

Denzel Washington's charactor, Eli, spends years walking west to deliver the last remaining King James Bible to a museum curator in San Francisco. Set several years after an apocalyptic event--there is talk of a war, and a "flash"-- Eli, nearly always in sunglasses, encounters danger and violence in his travels. Despite the trouble he encounters, Eli maintains a Zen-like demeanor throughout.

The Book Of Eli contains an interesting perspective on the importance of religion on society, and the plot is carried out in a satisfying way. The most interesting aspect of the movie to me was the look: at times the color seemed washed out of the film, while other scenes had robust color. The ending, which contains a difficult-to-spot swerve was enjoyable, and left me thinking about the flick for several hours.

Eli reminded me a lot of the spaghetti western genre, especially some of the early Eastwood flicks like A Fistful Of Dollars. Enjoyable, interesting and full of testosterone.

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