Does ‘Eli’ rewrite the book on apocalyptic action?

It’s the season of the apocalypse.

It seems that almost across the board, entertainment companies are going to great lengths to put out their own special apocalyptic masterpieces – all trying to top the others in one way or another. From the start of its trailer, “Book of Eli” makes its mark and comes out swinging, sporting a star-studded cast, sword-slinging action clips and old fashioned “good guy versus evil mob” plot devices that were so popular at one time in Westerns and action films. Nobody would’ve guessed that “Eli” was actually pretty stale.

The story revolves around a lone wanderer, Eli (Denzel Washington), as he treks across the arid wastelands of America with one goal: Reach the western coast. Short on food, water and power, the majority of the wasteland’s patrons have become cannibalistic marauders, only recognizable by an ever-present shaking from lack of nutrition.

The setting takes place many years after the start of Eli’s journey as he inches closer to the coast and passes through a densely populated and water-enriched old-West style town run by a sociopathic, book-addicted warlord, Carnegie (Gary Oldman).

Soon after arrival in the shantytown, Eli discovers road warriors being sent out into the desert to find a copy of a “specific book” for Carnegie. Confronted with the massive hunt, Eli tries to make it out of town quickly, but not before getting caught with the exact book being sought – an ancient, pre-war copy of the Bible, described as the last one on Earth.

Now, I won’t say exactly why this specific Bible is so special or why it’s the last one on earth, but I will say that as soon as Carnegie discovers the book, the movie turns up a notch from apocalyptic action to apocalyptic warfare. So many random machine-guns and explosives get pulled out on you, you’d be face-palming and muttering obscenities if you weren’t already entirely captivated by how awesome it was.

The movie as a whole is pretty flat. The down-and-dirty of “Book of Eli” is that the experience isn’t going to be one that sticks with you; the story isn’t going to revolutionize cinema or even the genre. The script is preachy, and frankly, it’s not likely that you’ll want see it again. All that aside, the movie is very entertaining. It seems like the first 20 minutes made a huge impression that the rest of the movie struggled to catch up with for its duration.

Basically, what you’re paying for is 118 minutes of Denzel Washington in rainwear cutting down henchmen with a sword while Gary Oldman snarls in the background. In that aspect, this movie delivers in full.

The action is gritty; the struggle feels real, and the twist at the end is more than worth the ticket price. But “Book of Eli” is just one of those movies that lacks a story good enough to make it entirely impressive. See it once.

3 out of 5 stars