It really is a shame that The Book of Eli came out just a week after The Road because although it’s a more than competent film with some truly excellent moments, it doesn’t compare favourably to the aforementioned walkathon.  On its own terms however, The Book of Eli is an entertaining and a surprisingly intelligent film.  It’s not going after The Road, it’s carving it’s own apocalypse and this one has more guns.

It's almost always this grey.

Following Eli (Washington) as he protects the titular book from gang leader and all round badman Carnegie (Oldman), we soon discover the book is more important than your average Dan Brown thriller.  It is in-fact the last bible in the world.  Eli wants to protect the purity of its message whereas Carnegie wants to create a hierarchical religious system around it, placing himself at the top.  This central conflict has obvious metaphorical implication but thankfully the film never gets too philosophical for its own good, choosing to focus on storytelling and leaving the meta implications of it’s narrative for the audience to figure out.  The story, I am happy to report is uniformly excellent.  It could move at a quicker pace and lose 15 minutes somewhere along the way but the atmospheric post-apocalypse is brimming with interesting characters. Also, like any great fiction it feels like you’re only just scraping the surface of the world.  The feeling of depth and diversity in the film’s fiction is very reminiscent along with its aesthetic style of the Fallout games.  These similarities are understandable as the film’s writer Gary Whitta is an ex-editor of the PC gamer magazine.  His nerdy background really comes through in every aspect of his screenplay (that’s a good thing).

The minute long single shot fight scenes are incredible.

While the conflict between Eli and Carnegie is well acted and believable, some of the supporting cast are less so.  Carnegie’s daughter Solara (Kunis) succeeds in being incredibly hot but isn’t a very well rounded or acted character.  Carnegie’s hired thugs are also incredibly one dimensional and the attempt to develop their leader Redridge falls laughably short.  None of the acting is poor enough to seriously damage the film however and with Carnegie’s thugs dropping left and right in stylishly choreographed single shot fight scenes, their acting soon borders on irrelevant.

Overall, The Book Of Eli is a lot better than the sum of its parts.  The action, acting and writing are decent but it is the believable world and the thought provoking themes that lift The Book Of Eli above mediocrity.

Rating: ★★★½☆