Will the new Denzel Washington Post-Apocalyptic movie from the Hughes brothers make you say “OMG!”, or “God dammit — this sucks!”?  Go beyond the break to find out…

Working for God can be really awesome, or really crappy. On the good days you get a nice hat, a whole city to run, and reason to invade, kill and “educate” the unwashed masses. On other days you get spit upon, misunderstood and tortured for simply having a book. Clearly timing is important for applying into Gods organization. Sadly in the post apocalyptic future there aren’t many job options. Denzel Washington plays Eli, a man that is supposedly working for the lord. His life is simple. All he has to do is survive and get the last remaining bible to somewhere safe. He doesn’t know where that place is but that is a benefit of working for God. The Big Guy whispers in your mind telling you exactly what you need to know. If He tells you to walk west, you walk west. If He tells you to eat radiation poisned cats, you eat radiation poisoned cats. Life is easy when your boss is watching you 24/7.

Villains make the world go round and Carangie (Gary Oldman) is that slimy, charismatic guy we love to hate. He perfectly alternates between menacingly friendly and crazy blood vessel popping yelling. Carnagie runs an old town thats functional but on the brink of falling apart. He needs a weapon to control the people of his town, and that’s where the book of Eli comes in. Carnagie remembers the good old days when the Vatican told people how to live their lives in effect controlling them. He figures he needs to exert that type of control over people in order to keep them for acting like the degenerate animals that they are. The Bible is the keystone to his plan

Honestly there is not much to this story. It was written by Gary Whitta who has episodes of Futurama and Star Trek Enterprise to his credit. The Hughes bothers (Allen and Albert) directed the flick and have worked with a range of talent from Tupac to Johnny Depp. This movie is a perfect example of how less can be more. We don’t really learn much about Eli, or even the world he lives in. Midway through the movie we find out that there was another war, a big one, and things didn’t go so well for the good old United States. A blast caused a hole to be ripped in the atmosphere and as the Suns radiation came through, many who weren’t killed were blinded and incapacitated. Eli was one of the lucky ones. Religion was blamed as the main cause for the war so all the religious texts in the world were destroyed. Eli is either crazy, or an instrument of god, we can’t really be sure. What we do know is that he has the last copy of the Bible and he can fight like a fat kid going for the last piece of cake. The story is revealed subtly and if you are not paying you could miss key plot points since they never hammered home.

Overall there isn’t much that I can find wrong with this movie. People craving the action that was promised in the trailer may feel like the movie starts off slow, but to me it felt like it was building momentum. Action hits at the right time and the movie lets you draw your own conclusions about Eli’s divine protection. A last second slip up derails the movie slightly, but it comes so late in the film it is forgivable and does nothing to affect the overall plot. In fact this film contained a plot twist that was 6th Sense and Fight Club quality. It actually made me want to watch the whole flick again with a new perspective. While this movie doesn’t need to be seen in theaters, I think it’s another great work by a strong cast, strong writer, and strong directing pair. Some may feel that God is a myth, but my love for this movie is not. Me Lovey!