The Hughes Brothers’ 2010 sci-fi Western film “The Book of Eli” stars Denzel Washington as the titular Eli, a machete-wielding rogue who wanders a post-apocalyptic Earth years after a nuclear holocaust has laid waste to vast swaths of the planet’s surface. It’s not so far in the future that Eli doesn’t still have a working mp3 player, though, and he barters things in exchange for battery charges at the occasional mercantile outpost.
Eventually, Eli runs afoul of Carnegie (Gary Oldman), an aspiring post-apocalyptic warlord who is looking for a legendary book, believing it will allow him to take control of the populace. Three guesses as to which book he’s looking for.
“The Book of Eli” is pretty badass, with a chalky, dusty aesthetic that’s unique in the annals of post-apocalyptic thrillers. Washington, one of the best actors of his generation, gives Eli a soulful humanity while also making him a capable action hero, able to take down teams of attackers with his sword. (He even fights off a guy with a chainsaw in one scene.) And while critics weren’t super-high on the film, it was something of a hit, enough so for a “Book of Eli” prequel series to enter development in 2024.
The movie’s supporting cast is impressive as well. Mila Kunis, for example, plays Carnegie’s daughter Solara, who is unsavorily ordered to seduce Eli when he comes into her father’s field of vision. What’s more, Tom Waits has a small part as a shop owner, Jennifer Beals plays Carnegie’s mistress, Michael Gambon and Frances de la Tour show up as a pair of itinerant cannibals, and Malcolm McDowell has an uncredited role as a much more friendly book collector.
The Book of Eli is full of fun twists
If you don’t know the various twists in “The Book of Eli,” I would recommend you watch the movie before looking up any plot synopses. There are several notable, fun reveals, especially at the film’s end, that should not be spoiled. The one thing I will mention is that Carnegie is, in fact, on the hunt for a Bible. Religion appears to have fallen by the wayside in the movie’s dusty wastelands, and Carnegie, while not a believer, seems to know that Christianity can be wielded as a cudgel to control the masses. Indeed, all known Bibles had been destroyed following the global nuclear strike.
It’s a pretty damning, almost anti-religious theme, when you think about it. The only legacy that Christianity will bring into the future is the way it was wielded by political leaders as a means to sway votes. Eli, meanwhile, has a much more righteous grasp of the Bible, understanding its philosophies and cultural impact more profoundly. “The Book of Eli” explores themes of God and godlessness in desperate times, its central conflict being a wholly Christian idea of faith vs. ambition. Despite its violence and badassery, one could imagine “The Book of Eli” being shown as the warm-up movie in a Bible study course.
What did critics think of The Book of Eli?
The Hughes Brothers burst onto the scene in 1993 with their crime drama “Menace II Society” before helming other impressive films like “Dead Presidents,” the documentary “American Pimp,” and the Jack the Ripper film “From Hell,” based on a comic by Alan Moore. After “The Book of Eli,” the siblings went their separate ways creatively, with Allen Hughes helming the 2013 thriller “Broken City” and the documentary miniseries “The Defiant Ones” and “Dear Mama.” Albert Hughes, meanwhile, made the 2018 prehistoric actioner “Alpha.” Together, they’re responsible for some of the best action movies from Black directors of all time.
As mentioned, critics weren’t terribly kind to “The Book of Eli,” although several prominent reviewers were on its wavelength. Notably, Roger Ebert gave the film three stars (out of four), feeling that it starts out grim but falls into Western cliches in a way that makes the whole thing more watchable and even enjoyably silly. As he put it:
“(Denzel) Washington and the Hughes brothers do a good job of establishing this man and his world, and at first, ‘The Book of Eli’ seems destined to be solemn. But then Eli arrives at a Western town ruled by Carnegie, who, like all the local overloads in Westerns and gangster movies, sits behind a big desk flanked by a tall bald guy and, of course, a short scruffy one. How are these guys recruited? Wanted: Tall bald guy to stand behind town boss and be willing to sacrifice life. All the water you can drink.”
Ebert added that the movie’s ending is “flawed” yet “it’s so magnificently, shamelessly, implausibly flawed” that it makes “The Book of Eli” stick in the memory for how gloriously implausible it is. That’s not a negative thing.
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