Very Hottest Photos

n "The Book of Eli," now out on DVD, Denzel Washington beautifully inhabits the film's titular hero, a laconic, solitary gunslinger who's also custodian of a mysterious tome, carried in his backpack as he travels a burned-out landscape populated by cannibalistic "hijackers." Gary Oldman makes a great villain, tearing into the part of Carnegie, the corrupt, small-town boss who also wants Eli's book for his personal library.

The film culminates in a battle worthy of Sam Peckinpah. Holed up in a farmhouse on the side of good are Eli, Solara (Mila Kunis) and a hapless old couple. That showdown between the righteous and the very, very wrong-teous is not, however, the end of the movie. There's a twist coming, worthy of O. Henry. It's more than a little satisfying and just about makes up for all the handsome, portentous nonsense that came before.