The Book OF Eli

The Book of Eli" manages to do almost everything right, the casting is very good, Denzel Washington does a good job as a hardened man on a mission, the landscape and special effects are superb, the directing and pace of the film are just right for an action/thriller, and the action scenes are almost over the top, but not too bad and they aren't too numerous or drawn out.

What kills "The Book of Eli" is the book.  What is it?  Why are people willing to kill for it?  The implication in the trailers is that it's a Bible, but surely, there is more to the story than that, right?  Wrong.  It's a King James version of the Bible.  Survivors of the war which brought on this apocalypse blamed religions and tried to destroy all copies of religious texts.

 Oldman's character is after what is believed to be the last, remaining copy of the Bible because he believes it will allow him to control more people over a greater area.  Maybe it will, but you can always just make up a new religion.  Most of the people alive grew up after the war and can't read anyway.  Denzel's character is taking the Bible west because God speaks to him.  Also, God is protecting him on his journey, as in bullets seem to miraculously miss or bounce off of him and he can easily slaughter people who try to take his Bible away.  (Very Christian.)  It is at this point that the movie loses me completely.

 I can take that it's a Bible and people are willing to kill for its potential power over the masses, but Denzel's character is being guided by the inner voice of God, he is actively being protected by the hand of God, and, in the end, we discover (twist ending!) that he is blind, so he is actually being guided by God.  Where's the suspense in that?  This movie's ending is (forgive me for this one) preordained once we discover that God is actively involved. 

It ends with Denzel's character getting to Alcatraz Island, where a group of people have been preserving books and are beginning to reprint them.  Denzel's character dies, because any Christan prophet also had to be a martyr, the King James version of the Bible (how many versions of the Bible are there?) is placed on a shelf next to other religious texts, so as to be politically correct, and Mila Kunis' character inherits Denzel's hardened look and starts her journey back to her home town; apparently a new prophet. 

I'm sorry, but as soon as bullets started bouncing off of him and Denzel said he was guided by the voice of God, I knew everything that was going to happen and was just bored waiting for the inevitable end.  The shocking, twist endings of Denzel's character being blind and the Bible being written in Braille only manage to hammer home the now undeniable fact that, for this movie anyway, yes, there is a God and he wants, specifically, the King James version of the Bible to survive.  (Sorry Greek Orthodox Catholics and most non-European Christian sects.)  How this movie went from post apocalyptic action/thriller to dogma of certain Christian sects, I'm really not sure, but it was a wrong turn.