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Touching, poignant, violent, uplifting, thought provoking and hopeful THE BOOK OF ELI is a surprising film brilliantly brought to life under the direction of THE HUGHES BROTHERS and great acting of Denzel Washington.
To attempt to describe the experience of watching ELI would actually provide a disservice to all as the plot twists and revelations that occur throughout the film are both fascinating and riveting and require to be viewed in the moment so no explanation of the storyline here. Just a brief description of the important components.
Eli is heading west in a post apocalyptic nightmare world. He carries a book, a book of great importance. He's on a mission to deliver the book although he doesn't know where his trip is leading.
Along the way he runs into many folks, most bad, a few good. Gary Oldman plays the main baddie. He wants the book and is willing to stop at nothing to secure it. Along the way we discover a world that has completely fallen apart. Through this bleak, violent and horrible land Eli navigates his way west never veering from his quest.
Ultimately the contents of the book and Eli's role in its journey are revealed and the outcome will provide goosebumps.
Visually the directors Albert and Allen Hughes pull off an amazing experience. I loved the overall feel of this film and after watching the "making of" documentary was delighted to witness all the time and thought that was put into even the smallest detail of this film. And it shows as you really can't take your eyes off the screen. Performance wise Washington brings home the always high caliber performance that we have come to expect from him. Same with Gary Oldman, you would be hard pressed to find anyone better to play your villain and Oldman delivers the goods.
I think the biggest pleasant surprise for me came from Mila Kunis who plays Solara. She joins Eli on his quest at about the half way point of the film and just explodes on the screen. If you're not familiar with the name Mila played Jackie on THAT 70's SHOW and is probably best known as being the voice of Meg on FAMILY GUY. She's all grown up now, she's beautiful and she can act.
A nice breakout performance from her here.
The overall package of THE BOOK OF ELI is great. It comes as a Blu-Ray, DVD, Digital Copy combo pack so you're getting maximum formats for your bucks on this one. It's also got a nice slate of special features:
Maximum Movie Mode: 40 minutes of picture-in-picture commentary with
Denzel Washington and the Hughes Brothers, and 10 Focus Points
Additional scenes
A Lost Tale: Billy--animated short covering Carnegie's backstory
Starting Over: Explore the role we might play in reshaping society after a global catastrophe
Soundtrack: Co-director Allen Hughes and composer Atticus Ross compare
notes about the soundtrack's construction and deconstruction
Eli's Journey: Probe the historical and mythological roots of the film's central themes.
A great movie, a great blu-ray release this is one that you need to add to your collection. Don't put this one in your player looking for some brain dead blood and guts, you've got to think about this one but when you do you realize just how important the message is.
THE BOOK OF ELI is available JUNE 15th on a myriad of platforms including digital download.
CLICK HERE to choose how you want to see it.
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