It's Hard To Screw Up A Movie With Denzel Washington

Yet, it has been done.

Entertainment Weekly's review: The Book of Eli

Honestly, how many times can the post-apocalyptic Earth story be told?  One movie the reviewer could have mentioned was "Zardoz" with Sean Connery, which seems similar to that genre.

When you are attempting to breathe new life into a hoary old premise, like the man wandering a desolate landscape post-nuclear war, you have to turn it on it's ear, you have to do something different.  Otherwise, it just gets filed away with all the others.  Especially coming so soon after a similar movie (The Road).

There was a similar situation back in 1993 when there were competeing Wyatt Earp movies in production: "Tombstone" starring Kurt Russell and "Wyatt Earp" starring Kevin Costner.  While the Kevin Costner production would win points from most people for historical accuracy, it was "Tombstone" that became the bigger hit, both box office-wise and cult classic-wise.