Denzel Washington slices and shoots his way through a bleak, post-apocalyptic landscape populated by cannibalistic raiders like an elder, Zen Mad Max in THE BOOK OF ELI. It’s a gritty and rambling dystopian actioner with a slight plot twist from the directing team of brothers Albert and Allen Hughes. Compared with past post-apocalyptic movies, of which there are many, it comfortably fits within its own realm where Old West shootouts, chambara and modern, defensive martial arts conventions merge within an atmospheric, near religious fable of one man’s quest to safeguard the world’s last remaining Bible from those who would use it to control the dwindling masses struggling to survive and rebuild their world.
The film takes place 30 years after a cataclysmic world war left humanity in ruins and the Earth’s protective atmosphere depleted, forcing survivors not already blinded by the sun’s harmful rays to wear protective eye gear outdoors. In America, the remaining population has become divided between roving cannibals who prey on the weak and people clustered into small, protective communities struggling to subsist under the rule of corrupt leaders like Carnegie (Gary Oldman) who plans to expand his control of a small town to other settlements. What he needs to accomplish this is a way to sway the hearts and minds of people beyond their basic need for survival and the answer is to find the Holy Bible, a powerful text that has caused wars and yet provided hope and comfort to those in need...
No comments:
Post a Comment