The Road
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From Cormac McCarthy, author of No Country For Old Men, comes the highly anticipated big screen adaptation of the beloved, best-selling and Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Road. An all-star cast are featured in this epic post-apocalyptic tale of the survival of a father and his young son as they journey across a barren America that was destroyed by a mysterious cataclysm. A masterpiece adventure, The Road boldly imagines a future in which men are pushed to the worst and the best that they are capable of - a future in which a father and his son are sustained by love.In many ways a close adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's grim novel, The Road dutifully plods through the basics of McCarthy's nightmarish post-apocalyptic landscape: a father (Viggo Mortensen) and his young son (Kodi Smit-McPhee) try to survive as they trek along through the sodden, sunless remnants of some awful disaster. Scrounging for food and huddling together to stay warm, they spend mos t of their time trying to avoid the cannibalistic marauders who roam the highways. The film strikingly demonstrates that McCarthy's book was almost entirely dependent on his extraordinary language for its literary life; the story, such as it is, is so skeletal and spare it doesn't translate well into movie terms. The Proposition director John Hillcoat brings his grungy physicality to the material, so in the matters of the damp clothes and starved bodies and cheerless forests, the movie rings true. But the longer it trudges on, the more it seems a thoroughly conventional conclusion is at the end of this dystopian tale. The Road has one notable selling point: the performance of Viggo Mortensen. In his character's fierce determination to live--but also the gentle sighs he lets forth when confronted with, say, his first sip of whisky in years--Mortensen is completely in the moment, and all too human in the post-human world. --Robert Horton
Stills from The Road (Click for larger image)
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| 232 of 240 people found the following review helpful  A hard film to like-slight spoilers, This review is from: The Road (DVD) Someone asked me if I liked The Road, upon watching it. I had no answer. The Road is just one of those films that is too hard to describe. Is the movie good? Well, yes it is-that is a far easier question to answer. I have read the book and must say that the film really does it justice. It is bleak, dreary, utterly depressing and flawlessly acted. 0 Viggo Mortensen is a man with no name, who, alone with his son (also no name) is attempting to survive what seems to be some sort of apocalypse. We never see what transpired-we only see the aftermath. We are not given a timeline, though you can judge for yourself how long man and son have been attempting to 'live'. Mortensen carries the entire film on his weathered and weary shoulders. I cannot gush enough about his performance-in any film really. But here, you only have to look into his eyes-so full of soul and despair to realise that not only is this man acting, he is really and truly transformed. Just incredible really. The atmosphere is grainy and desolate, without color of any kind and as you watch, you slowly go mad envisioning what you would do in such a situation. The film features horrors that include cannibalism and at one point, you see the father teach his son how to properly kill himself if anything should ever happen to him. Very disturbing. By film's end, you are mentally exhausted. This is not a fast-paced film at all. It is purposefully slow-going and I believe that was done with the intent to transport you inside the film itself, and in my mind, it succeeds. After the credits started to roll, I found myself depressed for the rest of the day. This is probably one of the most desolate films I've ever seen, so I would avoid it if you like your films with satisfying ending-because this isn't it. 33 of 33 people found the following review helpful  Dark, depressing and exactly what it is supposed to be, By YetAnotherITGuy "Chris" (Central Texas) - See all my reviews Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The Road [Blu-ray] (Blu-ray) Agree with and can't really add to what other reviewers have said here. This is serious stuff. It does follow the book very closely and most scenes are exactly as I had envisioned them. It is a very dark, lonely, depressing story, BUT -- with a strong underlying element of hope and love. Specifically, that which makes us human, why we press onward when all seems lost. For what? In this case, a fathers love for his son. The mood expressed is not an especially popular one for a major motion picture and as such, is one of the reasons I bought it on Blu-ray, not because it is something I want to watch repeatedly, but because I have a LOT of respect for and want to support filmmakers that are willing to go against the trend of only producing light, pop-culture, feel-good, easily digestible "product". 0 51 of 54 people found the following review helpful The depths of despair., By This review is from: The Road (DVD) I wasn't sure if I should give this movie one star or five... 0 I settled on four. .......(shaking head) I've never read the book so all I knew about the movie was a guy and his kid survive the end of the world and that was about it. They never say what it was that ended the planet. I'm guessing it was some kind of bomb but all that's left is man. No animals. No crops. No trees. Nothing. Within the first ten minutes of the movie I was in tears and I knew I'd be in for a rocky ride. I WAS NOT prepared for what this movie threw at me. Ok, the good. Why would I give the movie five stars? Excellent acting, incredible score. The movie sucks you right in and doesn't let go. The direction is brilliant. The pacing is slow but deliberate and very effective. The movie is a masterpiece except for.... The bad? Why would I give one star? Umm....I don' t know how many of you have played the Resident Evil video games but when you stumble upon a big scary mansion looming in the mist, RUN THE OTHER WAY. Chances are said mansion will have scary, icky things in it. And the mansion part of this movie will haunt me for years to come. YUCK! Not that this part of the movie is gory, it kind of is. It's the mental impact of what is happening in the mansion and really all over the Earth. This movie is the darkest, most depressing, desolate thing I have ever seen and I never want to see this movie again. I settled on four stars. The movie is a masterpiece and one of the scariest movies I've ever seen. It's not even technically a horror movie but that's what kind of impact it had on me. I guess what really scares me the most is the fact that this entire scenario is possible. Funny....that great thing we call the mind of man is what has elevated us from the club wielding/rock t hrowing days to where we are now as a species. It will be the same mind of man that reduces us right back to where we originated, maybe even worse if this movie is any indication. I pray the bombs never fly during my lifetime but if they do. I know where fallout shelters are... I won't be going. I'll go right outside and welcome the end with outstretched arms. Even if you did survive, what kind of life would be left for you or your loved ones? Is that really something you'd wish on them or yourself? If the end really was as bad as this... My prayers for the survivors. Imagine a planet filled with Ted Bundy's and Jeffrey Dahmers running around in gangs. For those who say "This could never happen". It already has. Go read about Holodomor in Ukraine. People can and will revert back to their most absolute brutish ways in very little time under the worst circumstances. ...Maybe this wasn't the best movie for me to watch. I cry during car commercials if the music is sappy enough. This movie will stay with me for years to come. Excellent job by Mortensen, Theron and the boy. Do I recommend this movie? If and that's a HUGE IF you can stomach the subject matter of a post apocolyptic world filled with murdering cannibals, then yes. Otherwise I'd say for sensitive viewers, don't watch it. It's a masterpiece of utter brutality, desperation and hopelessness. There is no happy ending here. |
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