Denzel Washington: 5 Awesome Performances And 5 That Sucked

And 5 That Sucked...

5. Eli - The Book Of Eli

Hey, we all make mistakes. And there's that maxim, the constant reminder that film critics have to bear in mind when they go about eviscerating the latest cinematic monstrosity: nobody sets out to make a bad movie. That might need updating in the age of SyFy originals like Sharknado 2: The Sharkening, but for the most part, it's still true. And you can see why Denzel might have signed onto The Book Of Eli, with its interesting take on the slightly tired post-apocalypse formula (he plays a man who is told by a voice to deliver his copy of a mysterious book to a safe location) and with the Hughes Brothers in the directors' chairs (From Hell wasn't great but Menace II Society and especially Dead Presidents are stone cold classics), there's no way it could go wrong? Right? Yeah, no, it did go wrong. That's why it's on the half of the list where we look at performances that sucked, see? We're not sure what exactly went wrong with this one; Washington is reliably intense as the titular Eli, and he's backed up by an impressive supporting cast that includes Gary Oldman, Mila Kunis and, erm, Tom Waits. The cinematography makes the most of the arid New Mexico setting, too. The problem, really, lies with the script. The twists are hopelessly hackneyed, the motivations of all the characters - why are people so hopped up over a book? - don't become any more clear when the groaning revelation of what the item Eli is ferrying is, and there's awful dialogue flying all over the place. You can get actors as talented as Oldman and Denzel, but even they can't polish a turd. And a turd The Book Of Eli most certainly is.