The forests are dead, barren, lifeless, a rain of ash descends from the grey skies, a small cat creeps through the darkness before starting to chew on a lifeless body...so starts the latest post-apocalyptic adventure courtesy of hollywood. That's the thing about post-apocalyptic movies, it's all doom and gloom, you rarely get a cheery start.

This then is Book of Eli, Denzel Washingtons latest action vehicle, in which he plays a quiet man on a mission. In that respect it is a bit of a departure for Denzel from his usual 'angry' man on a mission role (Training Day, John Q, Out of Time, Man on Fire, Inside Man...the list is endless), indeed seeing Denzel play a quiet, calm, reflective character is a bit refreshing. As the titular Eli, he is a wanderer in this barren land, a lone traveller forever heading west, always west, always staying on the road trying not to get involved in business that doesn't concern him. He is a man of presence, of unshakeable belief, of religion, the afforementioned 'man on a mission'. Lets be clear though, whilst he may be quiet and calm, this sure as hell doesn't stop him kicking ass, which he does regularly and with brutal effeciency (and rather well for a man hitting 55), it is an action film after all. However whilst it may be a competent and effective performance it's no great stretch of Denzels acting abilities, he barely steps out of 2nd gear here, and we all know he is capable of far far more.

We have the lone wanderer then, the road warrior, do we have any other staples of post-apocalyptic movies? Well, yes, yes we do. We have the staple town he has to approach for supplies (in this case he wants a battery charged, makes a change from gas i guess). We have the staple 'Head Bad Guy' who runs the town with his band of less than merry men, played by perpetual bad guy Gary Oldman who barely gets out of 1st gear. We have the unfortunate encounter that leads to them having a bit of a run in. We have the feisty young woman who wants to help but mainly gets herself in compromising situations. We have the road bandits prowling the plains, in this case mainly cannibals with a severe does of the shakes, but what else are you going to eat when nothings really alive? And we have the major event that led to the future which we are seeing, it's known as the Flash, and isn't gone into in too much detail. All the boxes have been ticked then, if it's originality you are looking for you may want to go elsewhere.

Even the scenery isn't overly original. It's standard post-apocalyptic fair, barren wasteland, dead forest, little water, lots of dust, lots of sunshine. However it is beautifully and impressively shot, as the directorial Hughes brothers go on a cinematic journey of light and shadow, constantly showing the harsh visual contrasts between the two. A fight early on played out with the characters mainly as shadows to a light backdrop shows this to great effect. This cinematic style was something I noticed right from the start, and it is very pretty to look at, however as it is repeated over and over again, becoming a central theme of the lighting and camera work, I couldn't help but wonder if they'd overutilised it. Somehow it became too noticeable, and I felt they had some kind of obsession with it.

Book of Eli is a competent (yes I know I've used this word a lot, but it just sums things up!), if slow to get going, action movie. It has a standard fare story, standard landscape, pretty cinematography, some lovely choreographed fight scenes, and a competent if uninspired central performace. So an average movie, worth a watch if you're looking for something to see, but not worth making any special effort to get to. Having said that though, having seen the movie once, and seen the story from start to finish, I would want to see it again. It's one of those movies were you just want to check a few things, confirm how some scenes played out, were knowing the ending does make a difference. Yes, i wouldn't go to the cinema to see it again, but ill definitely be watching out for it on TV.