Book of Eli, The

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

The film looks and feels good, and Washington's performance is the more uncanny the more we think back over it. The ending is "flawed," as we critics like to say, but it's so magnificently, shamelessly, implausibly flawed that (a) it breaks apart from the movie and has a life of its own, or (b) at least it avoids being predictable.

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

The Book of Eli works, even if the preservation of Christianity isn’t high on your personal post-apocalypse bucket list. Establishing its storytelling rules clearly and well, the film simply is better, and better-acted, than the average end-of-the-world fairy tale.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch Calvin Wilson

Washington is surprisingly persuasive as a world-weary blade-wielder, and Oldman makes the most of a not particularly interesting villain. But the film's breakout star may be Kunis, who brings to Solara a blend of sassiness and sexiness that's reminiscent of Michelle Pfeiffer.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

Though not as lyrical as "The Road," which benefits from both its visual artistry and its humanist perspective, The Book of Eli employs the genre conventions of the western to make mythic its principal character.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias

Its hero may be on a mission from above, but in a refreshing twist, the fate of mankind rests with the literate.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

A dynamic story, sprinkled with some interesting ideas about the preciousness of culture and how societies might rebuild themselves.

Boxoffice Magazine Pete Hammond

The Book of Eli takes the violent, gritty feel of a spaghetti western, marries it with elements of "The Road," places it in the future and gives it a spiritual twist.

Chicago Reader Cliff Doerksen

The sepia-toned palette gets a little wearying, but the dialogue is hilarious, the violence is crunchy, and cameos by Tom Waits and topflight Brit character actor Michael Gambon are worth the ticket price alone.

Arizona Republic Bill Goodykoontz

Its over-the-top violence is cartoonish at times, menacing at others - which is a good thing. And truly, if one must wander a barren, post-apocalyptic landscape with somebody, who better to wander with than Denzel Washington?

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

Washington doesn’t look as if he’s having much fun, and who can blame him? Perhaps he agrees with me: Apocalypse movies, like apocalypse heroes, need some laughs, too.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

Much has been made of the film's ending, vis-à-vis whether or not it's a pro- or anti-organized religion commentary of some sort. The Hughes Brothers, for two, say they just wanted to make a kickass piece of contemporary entertainment, and I, for one, believe them.

Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan

A hyper-violent, post-apocalyptic Western in the mold of "Mad Max" that can't make up its mind whether it wants to be corny or misanthropic.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

The film’s cool-looking desaturated look (not unlike “The Road”), plentiful action and Washington’s charismatic gravitas as the taciturn hero make it relatively easy to overlook the pretensions and implausibilities in the script.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

The Book of Eli isn't as exciting or funny or inspiring as it wants and needs to be, and its preachy ending is an ordeal. But Washington, a movie star who can act, is one cool dude who is worth following anywhere.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

The problem with The Book of Eli is that the narrative isn't a match for its sentiments. The script feels like it's an iteration or two short of a final draft.

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

The Hughes Brothers' measured, well-paced direction complements the comic-book simplicity of this narrative.

The New York Times Manohla Dargis

The movie keeps you watching and generally engaged.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

Somewhat entertaining, in its own little mud-brown way.

Portland Oregonian M. E. Russell

This makes "Eli" sort of wonderfully silly toward the end, as if the Hughes brothers set out to make the first-ever faith-based "Mad Max" movie.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

The story requires a greater leap of faith than I was willing or able to muster, since Eli is also a saintly pilgrim on a God-given mission to save a ruined world.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

So we're back on "The Road ," but this time Eli's coming – better hide your heart and, while you're at it, put your brain on hold, the easier to enjoy the action-filled sermon to come.

Premiere Michael Mariani

Starts out strong and boasts a convincing picture of the post-war world as an anarchic desert. But it comes to ditch its fun stylization for vague themes of religiosity and morality, leaving you with a disappointingly muddled movie.

New York Daily News Joe Neumaier

Yet it all comes down to one simplistic idea, and the result feels like a one-film evangelical movement.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

The Book of Eli is “The Road’’ with twice the plot, four times the ammunition, and half the brains; it’ll probably make 10 times the money.

Variety Todd McCarthy

Some mordant comic touches would have been welcome throughout the picture, which has a somber tone that suffers a bit from lack of modulation and nuance.

Village Voice Nick Pinkerton

The Book of Eli's plastic parable isn't much more advanced than "Insane Clown Posse" theology.

Orlando Sentinel Roger Moore

Whatever its virtues, Eli is a movie that can’t help but suffer in comparison to the much-delayed and much better "Road."

Time Out New York Keith Uhlich

For a few brief moments, the film becomes something close to Greek mythology, as opposed to graphic-novel imitator. What a feeling!

Empire Kim Newman

Mad Max 2 with Thought for the Day thrown in. There’s some ace post-holocaust action, but you can’t help feel you were invited to a party with fizzy pop and cream cake and got suckered into a sermon instead.

USA Today Claudia Puig

A didactic and humorless Western, Eli is too laborious for an action film and too brutal to be an inspirational tale.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

A ponderous dystopian bummer that might be described as "The Road Warrior" without car chases, or "The Road" without humanity.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

There is also a last-minute "Sixth Sense" twist, although it definitely won't make you sit through the movie again to see if the filmmakers cheated.

The New Yorker David Denby

The Book of Eli combines the maximum in hollow piety with remorseless violence. [18 Jan. 2010, p.82]