There’s nothing like a good mystery to keep audiences watching. Normally, action movies don’t tend to use mystery as a driving force, but the 2010s dystopian flick The Book Of Eli decided to go with that, and it worked in its favor. Led by Denzel Washington (Gladiator II), the movie follows the title character, who is on a mission to take a valuable book to a safe location on the West Coast of the U.S. after a nuclear holocaust decimated most of the population. The movie is now a hit on Max, landing at #5 among the most-watched titles on the platform and rivaling newer releases like Civil War.
Even though it doesn’t have the best Rotten Tomatoes score — 47% approval rate — critics were still divided between the qualities and problems of the movie. Mick LaSalle from Chronicle Movie Critic wrote that The Book of Eli gives us “a dynamic story, sprinkled with some interesting ideas about the preciousness of culture and how societies might rebuild themselves.” Andrew Pulver from The Guardian, however, stated that the movie has a “superficial resemblance” to The Road (starring Viggo Mortensen), but “considerably more opaque.”
The Book of Eli had a decent enough performance in theaters: it raked in over $150 million. The reason why it’s resonating with streaming audiences now might be the same from fourteen years ago: the movie’s themes and a pretty good cast that also features Gary Oldman (Slow Horses), Mila Kunis (Luckiest Girl Alive), Jennifer Beals (The L Word: Generation Q), Frances de la Tour (Enola Holmes), Ray Stevenson (Ahsoka), and Michael Gambon (Harry Potter film series).
Why Is ‘The Book of Eli’ Popular on Streaming Now?
One good reason why people might be watching The Book of Eli is because the movie is pretty unique with its elements. Dystopian titles come around every year, but you can’t help but be drawn to the story of Eli and stick around to discover what it is that he’s protecting with his life. Without getting into any spoilers, one of the movie’s themes is also faith and how important it is that some memories are preserved and not lost forever.
The Book of Eli was directed by twin filmmaking brothers, Albert Hughes and Allen Hughes, who directed one of the most revered modern classics of cinema: Menace II Society. Eli was the last movie they helmed together. Recently, Albert directed episodes from the John Wick prequel series The Continental and Allen is slated to helm a Snoop Dogg biopic with a screenplay by Joe Robert Cole (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever).
The Book of Eli is available to stream on Max.
