This movie goes from being an interesting and stylish post-apocalyptic samurai movie to one of the stranger gospel films ever made. The Hughes brothers—Albert and Allen—who’ve been out of action since their very good From Hell nine years ago, have made a farfetched movie about the power of religion. Denzel Washington stars as Eli, a mysterious walker of the Earth. He’s roaming around with his iPod after a nuclear apocalypse has turned the landscape to dust. He’s mighty handy with a sword, and when marauding gangs screw with him it results in some damned fine street fighting. There’s a silhouetted sequence where Eli faces off with a gigantic, chainsaw-wielding bastard that is a bloody thing of beauty. Too bad the film gets bogged down in religious clichés, and the final twist is a real laugher.
The Book of Eli
