Book of Eli

So I figured I'd start off with the most recent movie I've seen, "The Book of Eli":
The story follows Eli (Denzael Washington), humanity's last hope in a post apocalyptic world 30 years in the future. Eli has the last King James bible and is on a mission to transport it to an unknown destination in the west. He runs into some trouble along the way, including the antagonist, Carnegie (Gary Oldman), who seeks to use the bible to become a dictator. Eli also picks up a companion along the way, played by Mila Kunis.
Despite fantastic performances from Washington and Oldman, this poorly written post apocalyptic action flick falls flat somewhere along the way. Washington plays his role flawlessly, although the character does feel one-dimensional at times. Oldman is one of the saving graces of "Eli", playing an increasingly insane villain who is over-the-top in the pursuit of power. His acting is believable and surprisingly powerful. Kunis feels largely out of place in the drab desert landscape, and her high-pitched speech tends to disrupt the overall mood of the movie.
The plot had several weak spots, including the ridiculous plot twist at the end. Not to give anything away, I'll just say that it was incredibly unbelievable and definitely unnecessary. I also found myself questioning why a man of god was so violent. "Kill unto others", maybe? Killing a bar full of people doesn't seem very Christian-like (although they did attack first - just saying). This is why it was so hard to figure out which side this movie was taking: is Christianity just a means of control and a cause of war or is it the saving grace of humanity? I wish the movie would have given us a little more philosophically to wrap our heads around in that regard.
It wasn't a complete disaster, but this inundation of apocalypse movies is getting a little old. Despite its fallacies, the performances of Washington and Oldman in addition to the well done action sequences make "Eli" watchable if there's no better alternative. Just don't expect too much from it. 2/5 stars