The Book of Eli starring Denzel Washington opened in theatres today, and I made it to a matinee showing. The movie is about a book, the end of the world, and a journey. A fairly simple premise, and I enjoyed it much more than I expected!

Don’t get me wrong—it’s not perfect. The Book of Eli is still a Hollywood, big-budget movie made for the greater American audience. It’s violent with several decapitations and various limbs hacked off. There are convenient coincidences that may make some viewers cheer and others groan. And there’s a random, uncharacteristically humorous part [for this movie] thrown in near the end featuring a rather gruesome married couple.

But I also found it…well…satisfying. This is a movie about faith. Perseverance. Even hope. Our Western culture puts out a lot of stuff about faith in oneself, but trusting in something bigger than us? I haven’t seen that in a major film for a while. And there are some twists at the end that I enjoyed, too. One, I figured out. The other was a nice surprise.

Most Christians will love this movie, with the exception of those who think violence in any form in a flick is bad. People of other faiths might get frustrated, and people of no faith will probably roll their eyes during the whole thing. There’s a particular scene at the end that may flip the feelings, but I wasn’t surprised to see it, either. Remember, this is still a Hollywood movie.

All in all, I liked The Book of Eli, and I’m a bit surprised that it got made. This is the kind of movie that reminds me why I like to go to the theatre in the first place!

P.S. Recently I also went to see Daybreakers (yes, I’ve probably had my fill of movie gore for a long, long time!), and the best thing I can say about it is, “Don’t go see it.” If I was a real film critic, I would have said it should never have seen the light of day, but I don’t like bad puns…