Chattanooga Pulse

American film audiences have always loved a good disaster movie, at least judging by the success of films such as 2012 and their ilk.  Yet it seems Hollywood has lately had a somewhat unhealthy obsession with the aftermath of such disasters.

Post-apocalyptic movies have gone in and out of fashion for years, and for every classic such as The Road Warrior, there seems to be far too many like Waterworld and The Postman.  Maybe what Hollywood needed to do was make sure that Kevin Costner stayed as far away as possible from the current batch of dark and dour “after the world ends” movies.  In that regard, casting Denzel Washington as the lead in just such a film may be the best choice.

Washington scruffs up his normal movie-star looks to star in The Book of Eli, a story set in a post-apocalyptic America where his character has to fight his way across the country in order to protect a sacred book that holds the secrets to saving humankind.

Along with the recent adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road with Viggo Mortensen and the upcoming Legion, where angels try to bring about the literal Apocalypse, it appears that Hollywood is just not in a very positive mood, at least about the future of the world.  How audiences react to these films remains to be seen—but at least none of them have to contend with the Costner factor.

The Book of Eli
Starring: Denzel Washington, Gary Oldman, Mila Kunis
Director: Albert Hughes, Allen Hughes
Rating: R