Hola all. Massawyrm here.
“The most expensive special effect you’ll see right up there on that screen cost $20 Million and his name is Denzel Washington.” That’s how one of the Hughes brothers prefaced last night’s screening of THE BOOK OF ELI. If the idea of watching Denzel Washington walk around a post-apocalyptic wasteland while navigating around the likes of Gary Oldman, Ray Stevenson, Tom Waits and Michael Gambon doesn’t blow your skirt up, then seriously man, what the fuck are you doing reading Ain’t it Cool News? This is EXACTLY the type of movie we get excited for.
We are truly in a golden age of genre filmmaking. While people like Owen Gleiberman might be lamenting us overgrown teenage boys supposedly calling the shots when it comes to studio decisions, the truth is genre filmmaking always does well in times of economic downturn. When this country was in the shitter in the late 70’s and early 80’s it was genre we turned to, and from it came the greatest age of genre filmmaking the world had ever seen. Between the years of 1977 and 1985 we saw the birth of franchises that are legendary now. STAR WARS, INDIANA JONES, STAR TREK feature films, GHOSTBUSTERS, MAD MAX, BACK TO THE FUTURE, CONAN THE BARBARIAN, ALIEN, THE TERMINATOR. Meanwhile, brilliant filmmakers also created a series of darker, more cerebral fare like BLADE RUNNER and horrific nightmares like THE THING. It was a beautiful period we are now reliving in our own way this very moment.
We’ve got a number of our own classics seeded throughout this period: HARRY POTTER, THE LORD OF THE RINGS, SPIDER-MAN, AVATAR, IRON MAN and a number of others that may or may not attain classic status as the years go on. But what we’re seeing now, right this very instant, stretching back over the last few years is the release of dark, brooding, social commentaries dressed up in the trappings of science fiction and fantasy. Some of our most brilliant and acclaimed filmmakers are beginning to treat genre filmmaking with the same respect they treat Oscar caliber filmmaking, and a number of upstart first timers are emerging with strong, profound, original voices. Films like MOON, DISTRICT 9, CLOVERFIELD, CHILDREN OF MEN and THE ROAD all left marks, while films like PANDORUM, SURROGATES, and KNOWING at least gave it a shot, if not came close in some cases. Now the question on your mind as you read this is where does THE BOOK OF ELI fit, in the former or the latter? Well, it belongs firmly in the former.
I hate that people can’t seem to talk about this without mentioning THE ROAD. You might as well be compare THE SEVENTH SEAL to THE SEVEN SAMURAI. THE ROAD is a dark, depressing, existential discussion on maintaining hope and morality in the face of oblivion. THE BOOK OF ELI is a post-apocalyptic samurai movie. It has more in common with SIX STRING SAMURAI than it does THE ROAD. Sure both films are recent and deal with soulful characters trying to eke out an existence after the complete and utter collapse of society after some barely described tragedy – but the similarities end there. This is a western; a classic adventure film. Everything else, spirituality and all, is just window dressing for the movies true soul.
The film is about a man named Eli, a warrior-monk of sorts on something of a spiritual quest through the desolate, post-nuclear California wasteland. The film opens with series of quiet, speechless sequences as we learn about Eli through his survival routines. He hunts, he scavenges for wearable clothing and workable shoes, and when his jerry-rigged prized possession runs out of juice, he makes his way to the nearest civilization to get his battery recharged. But then somebody has to fuck with him. And that’s when the sword comes out and any chance of this being a quiet, meditative film about humanity on the brink of annihilation goes right out the window.
Now that’s not to say that THE BOOK OF ELI doesn’t have anything to say; in fact it has quite a bit to say about the nature of humanity and our passion for the comforts we currently take for granted. One of the film’s already mocked and discussed elements – Eli’s iPod – highlights this perfectly and sets up Eli in ways that you can’t quite grasp until you’ve taken it all in. One column I read this week, written by someone who hadn’t even seen the film, took the opportunity to show how much smarter they were than the filmmakers by explaining all the reasons an iPod in a post-apocalyptic world was silly. But one look at this mangled, pathetic thing and all of that criticism seems infantile. This isn’t an iPod. It’s Frankenstein. It is a cracked, abused, jagged piece of junk wired to a top of the line (in its day) bulky rechargeable battery. When the charge dies, it forces Eli into a dangerous town in hopes of getting it recharged. Why?
Because there’s a very good chance that the music on that iPod is the last place on earth that this music even exists; that when it dies, so too does the music of Al Greene. Eli isn’t just some feckless scavenger who likes music. He is the bearer of some of the last scraps of everything that was great about civilization, a keeper of the flame carrying a packs worth of humanity’s most cherished art. That iPod isn’t some cute joke meant to endear the audience to Eli; it is everything this film is about. As you wander with Eli through the dirty, ash-strewn streets of this post-apocalyptic world, you notice how people cling to what few scraps they have left; how certain characters relish simple, every day experiences we take for granted. Some waste them, spoiling themselves with the last remnants of our society. Others, like Eli, seek to protect it for the greater good. Eli is, in a sense, the iPod so many people are going to joke about – broken, battered and brimming with the flickering light of the world.
The oddest thing about THE BOOK OF ELI is the fact that it is a rated-R movie with a very Christian McGuffin. The film isn’t Christian; people are certainly going to think it is and Eli, to an extent, seems to be on the surface; but when all is said and done it has nothing about the Christian faith to say nor is Eli anything resembling a good Christian. Instead, the film is spiritual in nature, and hints at the possibility of the supernatural without actually committing to it at a level that one can nail down. The film is about faith, about the desire to make the world a better place. It’s never for a moment preachy because it’s not selling anything, and no one is going to walk out thinking differently about their faith.
But it is bordering on brilliant. There is so much subtlety to what the Hughes Brothers have included here that I’m not certain it’s all attainable with a single first pass. There are a number of things that are unspoken but clearly present, hinted at in a number of ways, including something of an unrequited love story that adds a certain level of depth to a normally cardboard archetypal character. I’m not ready to deem this a classic, but I will say that as far as post-apocalyptic films go, this is one of the very best.
And how can it not be? Denzel Washington isn’t the type of guy who signs on to a genre film for a paycheck. That’s why we love him. Even when his films don’t work, it never feels as if he was sleepwalking through it or simply took the payday. It always feels like he found something in the character that he wanted to investigate – and that’s exactly what he does here. Eli is a simple character, but one possessed of a number of layers. And every time we peel back a new layer, it only serves to show how deeply Washington understands his subject because we see that he was paying attention to the details supporting each layer simultaneously.
And the Hughes Brothers didn’t rest on the power of Denzel alone. Every major speaking role in this film is powered by someone with the weight to carry it home. I don’t think I need to tell you how awesome Gary Oldman is in this – you’re probably already counting on that. But Ray Stevenson as his right hand man is fantastic, giving a deep, occasionally moving performance as Oldman’s henchman-in-chief. Tom Waits and Michael Gambon both give great – if brief – performances, punctuating what could have been throw away roles. And Mila Kunis and Jennifer Beals add the heartbreak to a world seemingly devoid of any remaining human emotion that doesn’t require posturing. There isn’t a weak link in the cast from the bit parts on up – everyone is fantastic.
It is clear that the Hughes Brothers understand the material. From a few hidden references to a simple overt one, the film gives a number of small clues as to the pedigree of the film. They know their post-apocalyptic cinema and they know their samurai films. Everything about this movie is executed perfectly. The big question is whether or not you are with where the film goes in its third act as it reveals everything it has been keeping from you from minute one. The film has a number of big surprises, a few of which will have you wanting to rewatch it to see how the integrity of the film holds up once you know what you will. I myself can’t wait to revisit this as soon as possible.
THE BOOK OF ELI is a wonderful film, a dark, brutal addition to a subgenre with only a handful of real classics. If you are in any way a fan of films like THE ROAD WARRIOR, or hell, even 1992: BRONX WARRIORS, you owe it to yourself to see this as soon as you can. STRONGLY RECOMMENDED.
Until next time friends, smoke ‘em if ya got ‘em.
Massawyrm
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