Now I know that I just threw an event for THE BOOK OF ELI last night, but I was actually kinda pessimistic about the whole affair. The trailers have never captured me for the film. The only thing that it was really selling me was Denzel Washington as a badass walking the Earth having a series of adventures whilst protecting the last known copy of The Holy Bible. Which, as I just typed that, should have clued me into how cool this film could have been, but I was just stumbling intellectually with the issue of Denzel Washington, badass.

I don't think we think of Denzel as a badass. He always comes across as calculated. As an intellect. He's a thinking man, not an intuitive motherfucker that will do some Han Solo/Indiana Jones shit. You don't think of Denzel as a LONE WOLF & CUB type... or as a ZATOICHI or HANZO type.

Oh, I know you'll bring up MAN ON FIRE in the talk backs, but frankly I don't believe I ever thought Denzel was a badass, so much as thinking how fucked up all the situations were and wondering what doctor prescribed Ritalin for Tony Scott. That said, I like Denzel. He's a strong actor, who too often is cast in a variation of about 3 characters.

This is not one of those characters.

This Denzel isn't filled with witty repartee, this Denzel is a man of senses & instinct. In this sun bleached post-Apocalypse which has pretty much left the world to ruin, there is a path he's following. Remember the badass tired old knight from that third INDY flick? Well, imagine if God assigned you a task. To take a holy covenant by foot across a land filled with the sorts of fuckers that we are all too familiar with from films like A BOY & HIS DOG and ROAD WARRIOR. I love the notion of a man headed West to deliver forth the last known existing copy of the Bible.

Now, the mere concept of the last known BIBLE of the Post-Apocalypse... well, I find it fascinating. Apparently at some point in history - after a cataclysm - there was a Religious War that was all about destroying Religion. Bibles were sought, found and burnt. I can't even imagine religious zealotry getting so bad, that a war would be fought to eradicate the very memory of Christianity, but at the same time, I think I can imagine it.

All of that happened long before the start of this film. Guys in their 50s can remember the time before, but there's few of them. I've seen a lot of folks that believe Denzel is set upon a path to save humanity through the preservation of the King James Bible, but I'm not entirely sure that's the case.

Watch the film, see the ending, and you tell me if you think the BIBLE will unite and bind the leftovers of humanity or... Well, you'll see.

I also love Gary Oldman's character. At a surface level, he's just that bad guy in that town, who is bad news. However, he seems to be a man with a dream. He wants to bring back communities and towns. He remembers from his youth, the motivational and binding power of preachers who used this Book. A Book that started a war that left people in rubble, uneducated, cannibalistic in places and blind due to the sun's power after we punched a hole through our sky. He knows he has the strength to lead, if only he had the power of the word of God. He knows the book contains hope, fear and the power to make people believe - and he wishes to use the power of the Book to bring people together, to remind them of the simple rules of how to live, how to care for one another - and the belief in eternal salvation.

So when this stranger, this walker comes striding into his little town, that Gary rules through fear and strength of arms... I don't blame him for a second. He wants the book because he wants to bring people together, to end the insanity which is existence in the apocalypse. Denzel on the other hand hears voices that he thinks is God, while on some arbitrary quest to head WEST.

I don't know. I kinda side with Gary. I think he's willing to try to use the good book for a degree of good. BUT... at the same time. If you believe that God is sending you on a quest to deliver forth his word... Well, I think Denzel must probably be either a delusional homocidal drifter driven by some psychotic believe in a higher power that has bestowed upon him a higher purpose.

Or the guy that is trying to build a community.

Pick your side. Of course, if you side with Gary Oldman, he'll let you fuck Mila Kunis... so it is only natural that all sane men side with Gary. So that's why Ray Stevenson is a badass. He's willing to hunt Denzel's Eli if and only if he gets to get Mila Kunis. Now that's character motivation.

OK.

So why does the movie kick ass? First off, it is beautifully shot, exquisitely edited and it has a swagger that makes you get giddy. The fight scenes tend to be made up of longer shots filled with real time badassery. There's one sequence where you'll see heads popping off like me in a peep show. The ejaculatory glee with which Denzel dispatches his enemy... well it reminds me not of Western heroes, but of the wandering Samurai stories that I love even more. This is a Post-Apocalyptic Samurai on a Mission from God! THAT IS COOL!

Ok, so apparently God isn't cool to some, but dang it. That never stopped me from loving INDY when he shut his eyes, put his faith in God and missed one hell of a killer light show!

Now - watch out while reading the talkback below, there will be spoilers aplenty, and there's a lot of stuff that you shouldn't want to know about the film.

On Twitter last night, I confessed that I greatly prefer this film to THE ROAD. Now, let me quantify that. Before I saw the film, a friend told me that he'd read that another online critic said that if you loved THE ROAD, you'll hate THE BOOK OF ELI. Well, I loved THE ROAD, but prefer THE BOOK OF ELI.

You see, THE ROAD is a film filled with more gut-punching emotion than THE BOOK OF ELI has. THE ROAD has more pure intellect. That said, I take very little enjoyment from THE ROAD. It is a film that puts a knife in your gut and watches you bleed. It is a powerful film. A contemplative film. One that makes you question what each of us would do in a similar situation, and in asking us to face our own existence in the years following the apocalypse... it is depressing.

THE BOOK OF ELI is not depressing. This film is about the healing that would take place after the end has come. How people would attempt to reform communities, trade, life, etc. How we'd go back to a degree of the Old West.

How others would attempt to recreate other bastions of modern civilization. But more than anything, it is a cautionary tale about not fucking with a badass on a mission from God. This is something that film has repeatedly taught us.

This is our first film from the Hughes Brothers since their experience in the Fox meat grinder that resulted in a less than satisfactory rendition of FROM HELL. Every second of this film is proof of why we need more work from them on a regular basis. They are incredibly gifted filmmakers. Now someone, give them PIPPI LONGSTOCKINGS!