By Ian Gibson

In the last decade, the cinema has experienced a healthy revival in post-apocalyptic movies. From zombie attacks to biological plagues to nuclear warfare, mankind has undergone the worst of fictional maladies in a number of movies both good and bad. The latest to join the genre, The Book of Eli, offers the most atmospheric attempt at life-after-civilization but in a manner that ultimately fails to please.

The Book of Eli stars Denzel Washington as a foot traveler across the deadly American wasteland decades after a devastating nuclear war, carrying with him an old, beaten book. When the despotic ruler of a rundown town (played by Gary Oldman) hears of the book, he sets about taking it by any means necessary. What takes place for the rest of the film is the standard moral drama of good vs. evil mixed with minor action sequences and a tempting dame (Mila Kunis).

The cinematography of the film is breathtaking in its portrayal of scarcity and danger. Never before has the plains of the devastated mid-west been so realistically portrayed as to insinuate fact and not fiction. All the nuances of the deadly day-to-day life – the roving gangs of cannibals, the desperate hunt for supplies, the inability to trust anyone – are shown in stunning detail to the effect of laying upon the viewer the soul-crushing burden of living in such a place.

Adding to this are the characters of the film, each played with such brilliance that to question their legitimacy is simply impossible. Denzel has mastered his quiet dominance and displays it to full effect in The Book of Eli, playing the perfect counter to Oldman’s crazed evil genius. As the two duke it out, both verbally and physically, the viewer can’t up but feel in the middle of a great moral struggle whose implications go beyond the boundaries of the film.

However, The Book of Eli is ultimately a let-down due to a convoluted and unbelievable plot that serves only to compromise the film as a whole. As much as one wants to be sucked into the world of the movie, the absurdity of key aspects of the story constantly push the viewer away from the movie. It is a shame that a movie with such perfection in certain aspects can be a total letdown in others.