The Book of Eli (film): Top-tier apocalypse film

Part of the reason why this movie is so great as far as the apocalypse genre is concerned is because of the fact that there are exactly zero zombies involved in the mix and for me at least, that immediately puts it on another level since that bullhicky has been done to death.

The appreciation of this film is heavily backed on someone watching it not knowing the big reveal and therefore this review will be Spoiler free I would appreciate it if in the comments people would also not give away the rather critical aspects of the film.

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At some point in the future which is not defined in the film, the few remaining people on the planet live in an almost "wild west" sort of environment. There is no government, drinking water comes at a premium, and most luxuries not only don't exist, but there are not many people alive that actually remember what they were.

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People wander the barren wasteland or live in "urban" areas where there is some semblance of governance which are lead by overlords who keep the peace in a rather brutal fashion. This is where we meet Carnegie who is played by Gary Oldman. Carnegie was alive before the nuclear fallout and remembers what life used to be like, as does Eli (Denzel Washington.)

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Eli is meant to just be passing through on his journey "out west" but attracts the attention of Carnegie because of a book that he is carrying. A copy of the Bible, which is something few people remember and is one of the most sought after possessions on the planet because of the captivating verses that can "control the people" as Carnegie puts it.

Depending on how you view religion and how easily you can get butthurt by any representation of it in film, this is actually a very interesting aspect of the film: The men (and women) are drawn to incredible violence on one another in the name of a religion that most of them don't even know anything about because they were too young when the "world ended" to have any recollection of its teachings, yet they are all driven to choose sides and kill anyone who gets in the way of their obtaining of this book that Eli has and is meant to be the most powerful thing in the world.

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To me this can be interpreted a number of ways and any of them are interesting. There is no denying that a great deal of human suffering has happened throughout the actual history of people due to religion and yet here we are in this fictional world and the mere concept of having the only book that can bring that religion back into the world (which may have been a driving factor behind why the apocalypse happened in the first place - it isn't defined) is inspiring people to commit horrible crimes upon one-another to posses it.

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For me, the only thing I needed to see in order to want to get on board with this film are the names on the marquis: Denzel Washington, Gary Oldman, and to a lessor degree, Mila Kunis (who i've had a "thing" for since 70's show.) Basically, with that powerhouse of acting, i was always going to watch this.

_{from the always entertaining MovieClips channel}

There are a handful of non-zombie-oriented post-apocalypse films that I think are truly worth watching and this is one of them. It has a few absurd moments that I could do without involving copious amounts of ammunition that almost certainly wouldn't be available, but other than that the movie stays relatively realistic through the near 2 hour duration.

It had a massive budget and really, should have done better than it did in ticket sales. After marketing is factored in, it probably barely made a profit on the global market.

I think there is a really good chance that most people have already seen this film but in the off chance that you haven't, I feel as though this one is a real winner that should be seen before you forget about the recommendation. Just don't spoil it for other people, the same way I didn't spoil it for you.

My overall rating? 8 / 10