The Book of Eli Directed by Albert and Allen HughesWritten by Gary Whitta
This is why you should believe me when I tell you to ignore the critics who are dumping on the zippy new postapocalyptic romp The Book of Eli (showtimes), which as I write is polling a scandalously low 46 percent at the review-aggregating Web site Rotten Tomatoes. That advice goes triple for critics applying adjectives like pompous, portentous, solemn, or preachy to this psychotronic little drive-in gem.
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Periodically Eli is inconvenienced by dry-gulching cannibal bandits, but he has no problem dispatching such social refuse thanks to his mastery of the sword, bow, knife, shotgun, pistol, and Eastwoodian one-liner.
It’s really pretty funny that some reviewers have hailed The Book of Eli as a moving religious statement while others have bridled at its alleged evangelical agenda, because its general tendencies are solidly secular provided you discount the way supernatural forces protect Eli at every turn. Besides, no number of miracles could offset the resounding Unitarianism of the film’s final act, in which Eli delivers his precious cargo to San Francisco if you please, where a pony-tailed Malcolm McDowell shelves it alongside the Koran, the Bhagavad Gita, and all the other illumined best sellers.
