Budge and I went to see The Book of Eli yesterday on her day out of school.

I was impressed and moved by the film. Before I go any further, let me say that I will avoid spoilers in this post, BUT if you found out Bruce Willis was dead in The Sixth Sense before you saw it or if you learned of Brad Pitt’s dual identity in Fight Club before the DVD came out OR, going way old school, you knew the twist in The Crying Game before the kissing / toilet scene, GO SEE THE BOOK OF ELI BEFORE YOU TALK TO ANYONE ABOUT IT!! Don’t read Wikipedia’s article, don’t go to IMDb or any other such sites because if you know how the movie ends, A LOT of the mystery and “amazingness” gets killed quicker than the cat in the opening scene.

This is a good movie for my money. I enjoyed it; Budge enjoyed it, and all our friends who’ve been to see it have enjoyed it. Denzel Washington is excellent as the “Man with No Name Until the End of the Movie Unless You Are Paying Close Attention Towards the Middle.” Gary Oldman is a thoroughly despicable and reprehensible villain. Even the minor characters are well acted and, from the looks of it, they really bought in to the movie’s message and feel. I just thought it was a powerful message about one man’s drive to fulfill a mission he believes to be of divine origin.

The movie is filled with enough action to appeal to the action adventure freaks out there. It has plenty of mystery and you don’t realize until the end just how much mystery it does have. Finally, just like a cherry on top, it’s got philosophy and I like my movies to make me think. One thing I thought about and noticed is that even in this day of political correctness and toleration in America when every faith but Christianity is accepted and embraced, the book that Washington’s character goes to such awesome lengths to protect and defend isn’t the Analects of Confucius, the Tao Te Ching, or the Qu’ran. It isn’t even on Oprah’s Book Club list. It’s a Holy Bible.

Now, if you don’t like Christianity or if you even happen to be an atheist, that’s fine. What book would you want to use to try to direct a slowly rebirthing civilization down a good path? Personally, I think the choice Denzel makes is a good one.