.: Roberts' Reviews - Movie Reviews :.

Something being tagged a "Hughes Brothers movie" does nothing for me. The Hughes', Alan and Albert, broke onto the Hollywood scene with Menace II Society in 1993. The film was a moderate hit and allowed them to continue their co-directing passion with Dead Presidents two years later in 1995. Both films consisted of a large black cast and incorporated strong storylines intermixed with random violence. In 1999, the Hughes' went all Michael Moore documentary on us with American Pimp which looked at the profession of prostitution and the street pimps that control the industry. When American Pimp failed to connect to audiences, the brothers went back to lengthy thrillers with From Hell, the story of the investigation into the Jack the Ripper murders set in Victorian Era England. Even with Johnny Depp in the lead role, From Hell didn't live up to its expectations with critics or audiences and the Hughes brothers waited nine long years before they sat in the directors chairs behind the camera.

Their foray back into film is The Book of Eli, a post Apocalyptic film starring Denzel Washington as a badass that has been entrusted with a sacred book (non-spoiler alert: it's the Bible) that he is taking with him on his quest west because a voice in his head told him so.

Denzel plays lead character Eli. He's a pistol packing prophet that has been walking for 30 winters since the world went to war and destroyed itself. Like other post apocalyptic films (The Road Warrior, The Road), the leftover wasteland of our planet consists on damaged bridges, broken down buildings and a color palate that consists of mostly pale grays.

It is on Eli's journey that he comes across a town run by a power hungry leader named Carnegie (played with Jack Nicholson type gusto by Gary Oldman). Carnegie has been sending his goons on missions to search for a copy of the Bible. Carnegie believes the book to be a weapon ("It's a weapon armed at the hearts o the weak and the desperate") and he wants to use its words to motivate the people on faith and to conquer other towns preaching its beliefs.

Eli, however, is not giving up the book without a fight. A big one. Eli shoots and stabs his way along his path to righteousness. His specialty seems to be beheading people with his sharpened machete he keeps in his backpack. An encounter with a group of thugs under a bridge leaves a few of them headless and all of them dead. The scene is well crafted in silhouette under the dark cover of a bridge's shadow and sets the tone for a movie that will mix violence in the name of religion.

When it town and visiting a local bar, Eli again wields his weapons and slaughters the aggressors until a cute bar worker named Solara (Mila Kunis) urges him to stop. This will start an unlikely relationship between Solara and Eli that will take them eventually to their desired location, but not before Carnegie and his band of baddies posse up and hunt down the two in multiple violent stage scenes.

There is plenty to like in The Book of Eli. Whereas in The Road released earlier this year, the depressing and damaged setting is a backdrop to the film and not the focus of the visuals. The Hughes brothers keep the focus on Eli and those that dare come into his path. The action sequences are well spaced out and Denzel is not out of place as an elder (well, he is 56 after all) who can take on an army of men at one time and be the last man standing.

To be clear, I am giving credit to the notion that Eli is a man at all. Bullets don't seem to bother him much and a shootout at a remote house that would have left every cockroach in the home splattered with gunfire, has Eli and Solara walking out with hardly a scratch.

Whether is a man or some sort of godly protected prophet remains up for individual interpretation, especially when there is a small twist at the end of the film that has you play back scenes again in your head to determine is the device was indeed plausible.

One thing for certain, Oldman was classic Oldman. He's best when he's bad (sorry Commissioner Gordon) and he doesn't disappoint as the heavy reading Carnegie. His performance alone makes me forgive all the product placement that is so blatant I am personally going to boycott Motorola, Chapstick, Busch, and KFC until the dirt wears off in my mind.

Traditionally, films released in January any given year are not any good. They weren't good enough to be released in the holiday season when box office revenue soars and it isn't considered a film that can be slotted into the spring and summer releases which can also add countless millions to your bounty. But Eli is not to be dismissed. It isn't going to end up on anyone's Best Of…lists at the end of the year, but for a January film, this was highly entertaining.