Reel Critic:

Hollywood likes drastic portrayals of the end of the world. Directors Allen and Albert Hughes inject archetypal elements from many previous films in their new collaboration in “The Book of Eli.” The barren planet they show us is the aftermath of the apocalyptic nuclear war that occurred 31 years earlier.

What’s left of the Earth and its people is a gritty, amoral and violent world. Roving bands of vicious “Mad Max”-style road warriors victimize other survivors. Grungy towns of rusting cars and rubble are populated by anyone who can live through each day’s events. The excellent photography in sepia tones magnifies the grim reality on the screen.

Denzel Washington plays Eli, a classic Clint Eastwood type of “High Plains Drifter” in this lawless land of the future. He remains a man of honor and steel against all the evil. Handy with shotguns, pistols and machetes, he dispatches a good number of deserving bad guys to kingdom come in graphic fashion.

Their captain is played with sinister relish by Gary Oldman. He hunts for a special book of knowledge and discovers that Eli owns the last existing copy.

Their climactic struggle over the book has obvious religious overtones, which add depth to the familiar plot. Jennifer Beals and Mila Kunis provide welcome feminine relief from all the macho madness. But a wild “Sixth Sense” type of twist in the third act takes the movie in a suddenly different direction and makes the strange trip worthwhile.

JOHN DEPKO is a Costa Mesa resident and a senior investigator for the Orange County public defender’s office.