"The Book of Eli" ** (out of four): Another lone traveler wanders another post-apocalyptic landscape. This time, he carries a book. Who is this man and what's with the book? If that question is enough to keep you interested for two hours, you're all set.

Those of you who have read my review of the recent Cormac McCarthy adaptation, "The Road", know how I feel about the term "post-apocalyptic". But here we go again. "The Book of Eli" takes place in a (sigh) post-apocalyptic wasteland. All we know is that it's been thirty years since "the war" when "the sky was ripped open" and there was "the flash". Is it me or do these dystopic visions of the future give screenwriters an excuse to be lazy? What happened to civilization? We'll never find out. Are the survivors plagued by radiation? Fall-out? Who knows. While details would be nice, the script by newcomer Gary Whitta (former editor of "PC Gamer" magazine) adheres to the "less is more" philosophy. In this case, less ends up being exactly that.

Read more on BigPictureBigSound...