"The Book of Eli"

Title: "The Book of Eli"

Director: Albert Hughes and Allen Hughes
Producers: J. Silver, S. Downey, A. Kosove
Editing: Cindy Mollo
Composer: Atticus Ross
Starring:
- Denzel Washington as Eli
- Gary Oldman as Carnegie
- Mila Kunis as Solara

Plot and Critical Review: Thirty years after a nuclear apocalypse, Eli travels on foot toward the west coast of the United States. Along the way, he demonstrates uncanny survival and fighting skills, hunting wildlife and swiftly defeating a group of highway bandits who try to ambush him. Searching for a source of water, he arrives in a ramshackle town built and overseen by Carnegie. Carnegie dreams of building more towns and controlling the people by using the power of a certain book. His henchmen scour the desolate landscape daily in search of it, but to no avail.

In the local town bar, Eli is set upon by a gang of bikers and he kills them all. Realizing Eli is a literate man like himself, Carnegie asks Eli to stay, although it is made clear the offer is non-negotiable. After Carnegie's blind concubine Claudia gives Eli some food and water, Carnegie asks Claudia's daughter Solara to seduce Eli. Eli turns her down, but she discovers he has a book in his possession. Eli pacifies her with stern words, but offers to share his food with her. Before they eat, though, he has her pray with him. The following day, Solara prays with her mother. Carnegie overhears them and realizes Solara's words were likely from the contents of the book he has been seeking. Through violence, he forces Solara to tell him Eli was reading a book. When he asks what kind, she says she does not know but forms a cross with her two index fingers. Carnegie realizes Eli has a copy of the Bible, the book he has been seeking. Eli sneaks out of his room and goes to the store across the street, where he had earlier asked the Engineer to recharge his portable music player.

Carnegie attempts to stop Eli by having all his henchmen shoot at him, but the bullets just graze him, as if he is being protected. Eli shoots most of Carnegie's henchmen and hits Carnegie in the leg with a shotgun blast. After Eli leaves, Solara follows him and leads him to the source of the town's water supply, hoping she can accompany him on his travels. Eli traps her inside and continues on alone. Solara escapes and soon finds herself ambushed by two bandits who attempt to rape her, but Eli appears and kills them.

Eli and Solara continue on until they arrive at a strange house. They stop to investigate and quickly fall through a trap door. The residents, Martha and George, invite them in for tea; however, the travelers are soon found by Carnegie. Eli, Solara, Martha, and George hole up inside the house. A shootout ensues, leading to the deaths of some of Carnegie's men, as well as George and Martha. Eli and Solara are captured. Carnegie threatens to kill Solara, which prompts Eli to hand over the Bible. Carnegie shoots him, and leaves him for dead.

While in transit, Solara escapes and drives back to help Eli. Rather than chase her, Carnegie chooses to return to the town with the Bible, since his vehicle is running out of fuel. Solara picks Eli up and they continue west until they reach the Golden Gate Bridge. They then row to Alcatraz, where they find a group of survivors. Eli tells the guards that he has a copy of the King James version of the Bible, and they are allowed in. Once inside, they are introduced to Lombardi, the curator. Eli, who is revealed to be blind, begins to dictate the Bible from memory.

Meanwhile, back in the town, Carnegie manages to open the locked Bible with the help of his Engineer, but he is horrified to discover that it is a Braille copy. He is unable to persuade Claudia to read it for him. Carnegie's leg wound has become septic, and he realizes he will die without making use of the Bible. Claudia laughs because Carnegie lost too many men chasing Eli and the book. Without enough manpower to keep order, the people of his town take control. Eli finishes dictating the Bible after being shaved and cleaned; he dies, presumably from his wounds, shortly thereafter. The New King James Bible is printed and bound. Lombardi places the copy on a bookshelf alongside other sacred texts. Solara is offered sanctuary on Alcatraz but chooses to head back into the desert.

For whatever reason, directors and producers have been cashing in on apocalyptic-type films rather heavily, especially in the past 10 years or so. You can assume they'll make twice as much if they throw some zombies in. Examples:

"I Am Legend"

"The Road"

"Skyline"

"War of the Worlds" (sort of)

"Waterworld"

"Zombieland"

The list goes on, of course.

"The Book of Eli" grossed almost twice as much as its budget, even in the face of harsh predictions that it would be one of Denzel's weakest grossing projects. Mixed reviews abounded, but I'm willing to give it a high(er) rating for impressive fight scenes (no small feat for Denzel, who trained for months before shooting began), Oldman's believable Carnegie, and a fantastic twist at the end. We also ought to keep tabs on Mila Kunis. She is in excellent position to achieve greatness, but it is quite possible she could go the way of so many actresses and lean on the appeal of her flesh over her obvious talent as an actress.

My Rating: 7.5/10

Content to Caution:
V-4 - Very intense combat. Many gun fights, knife/sword fighting and subsequent dismemberment.
L-3 - No comment.
DU-2 - Drinking and smoking. Water itself is treated like a cash-drop/drug. People die for it.
RT-1.5 - No comment.
H/S-2.5 - Moments of violence-based suspense.
CH-1.5 - No comment.
S/N-2 - Solara tries to seduce Eli, and there are two incidents of attempted rape.

The "Reel Revelation": "Eucatastrophe"

We all know what catastrophe means; a sudden and/or widespread disaster. If we break the term down a bit we might even say it means the sudden or unexpected turning of good to bad. That seems reasonable enough... And if there is a word to express the sudden turning of good to bad, there must also be one to describe the opposite, the sudden and unexpected turning of bad to good! J.R.R. Tolkien solved this dilemma when he coined the term "eucatastrophe".

While we don't know when he coined the term, Tolkien employed eucatastrophe in a 1947 essay on fairy tales, using the term to describe the "happy ending" found in such stories. We do know that Tolkien relied heavily upon the element of eucatastrophe in his greatest work, the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. Toward the end of "Return of the King" all hope seems lost when Gollum finally takes hold of the Ring. He rejoiced, but in his celebration he steps too far, slips, and falls into the fire where Sauron had forged the Ring long ago. (If you don't know what I just said, do not be disheartened, it'll make sense shortly).

For a moment it seemed the Dark Lord had won! The Ring was nearly in his grasp, the very source of his power and strength! How he had longed for it! How all free people had feared this moment. And at the very height of the drama, Gollum, overcome with joy for claiming "his precious", stepped too far and the powers of darkness were undone once and for all. Eucatastrophe at it's best.

The very same happens in our lives. The very same happens everywhere in the world. The very same happened in a tomb outside of Jerusalem. Revisit the story for a moment. Jesus is dead, His body entombed. Guards are set to keep watch, but not out of devotion; their orders are to make sure Jesus' body stays where it was laid! The Pharisees drink to their health; the self-proclaimed Messiah is finally gone. They'd seen people like Him before, those who came proclaiming they were sent by God. They took care of John, Jesus' cousin, who caused quite a stir. Now Jesus was in the ground, too. Finally some peace!

Elsewhere the Disciples sat and wept. Their Master was gone. No laughter, no rejoicing, only deep grief and whispered prayers. Darkness had won, evil had taken the day...the devil's reign had begun...God's Son decaying in a tomb. Catastrophe. Utter catastrophe. Friday passes. Saturday passes. Sunday.

Eucatastrophe!

"Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came early to the tomb, while it was still dark, and saw the stone already taken away from the tomb." (John 20:1)

At the last possible moment all of the evil powers in the world were thwarted, all of them shattered, overcome, and utterly undone by God's love. Jesus' Resurrection is God's promise to do the very same in your life. If Jesus overcame death and the grave, how much more abundantly will God's victory reign in your life! If you ever feel like you're in the middle of a personal catastrophe (or a natural one, as so many are), do not despair. God is near, and will eucatastrophize (can I coin that?) your circumstances! If that seems impossible, do not despair...it is impossible apart from God.

"No weapon that is formed against you will prosper..." (Isaiah 54:17a)

This is the very goodness of God, to know that He is able, in a moment, to reverse our circumstances and turn what was intended for evil into something good for our lives.

Give thanks to God for His creative thwarting, and His love of eucatastrophe!

"Praise the LORD!

Oh give thanks to the LORD, for He is good;

For His lovingkindness is everlasting." (Psalm 106:1)

See you tomorrow - E.T.