Wasteland epic or waste of time?
By Matt Grantz, Staff Writer
Hollywood’s latest post-apocalypse film, “The Book of Eli,” follows the Denzel Washington’s character Eli as he travels in a world devastated by war over 30 years earlier. As he travels, Eli does his best to survive in the rough world and reads his book every day.
Eventually Eli comes across a small town that has managed to survive on its own. However, the town is run by the dictator Carnegie, actor Gary Oldman (Harry Potter’s godfather Sirius Black), who is searching for a book.
Soon, it turns out that the book Eli has is the one that Carnegie wants, leading to a chase across the desert wasteland surrounding the town.
This movie is loaded with fight scenes and violence, which, coupled with the bland coloring and desert setting, make the film appear overly dark and dreary. Piled on top of this darkness is the lack of humor in the film, making the movie even drearier.
If you overcome the darkness, you get to the plot holes. Why has Eli been walking to the same place for 30 years and still not reached it? Carnegie has been searching for one book for a long time and it suddenly walks into his clutches? These are just a couple of the situations the movie really doesn’t explain.
Overall, “The Book of Eli” is a film with good special effects and fight scenes, but it seems to be lacking a plot line that makes sense, thus earning my neutral rating.
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