Finally got around to watching this one and I'm kicking myself for not doing it sooner.
Synopsis in a nutshell. Set in a post apocalyptic world, where most of the people who remember what the good book represents have gone, nomade Eli (Denzel Washington) is charged with delivering the last remaning Bible to where it will be safe. On his journey Eli encounters survivor Carnegie (Gary Oldman), who not only remembers the Bible he remembers the power it can have over people and so plans to use it as a weapon to help expand his small empire. The action hots up once Carnegie relises stranger Eli has the book he has been searching so hard for. The obligatory heroin here is Solaris (Mila Kunis) who follows Eli when he leave's the town controlled by Carngie at the request of her mother who believes she will be safer with him.
The story was more substantial than anticipated and so held my attention more than I expected it to and i'm very pleased to report that the post-apocalyptic world portrayed was not just a simple re-hash of the mad max world but a well thought out creation.
There's a subtle but obvious message in this film pointing to what could happen in light of todays world with the very real threats that face us. As the viewer you're never told why the world is in the state it is but it's clear nuclear weapons is a likely suspect. The story deals with some interesting question like, what happens when all that knowledge is lost, not just big things like 'how to split the atom?' but small things like local knowledge such as where the nearest water source is located. I came away thinking about just how import knowledge and history is and how, history especially, is under appreciated. I love a good thought provoking story.
As expected Denzel's action scenes are bad ass. They are gruesome but they are shot in a very slick way which means they aren't gratuitous, his characters fighting style is very quick and clean, reminecient of Christian Bale's character in Equilibrium, very entertaining.
Here's my summary..
The Good: Good premise, great cast/acting & kick ass action.
The Bad: Would have liked to have seen more of Denzel kicking ass and the story padded out some more. But a sign of a good movie is one that leaves you wanting more.
The Ugly: Denzel with a razor sharp knife...awesome too.
I especially liked the biblical connotations in the film, likening Eli's pilgrimage of faith to that of a disciple or that of Jesus himself. Another nice touch, but kind of obvious thinking back, was a clever little plot twist revealed at the end.
Overall i'm giving it a 4/5.
As always please comment bellow.
Peace
G
Graham Royston 