The Road

Viggo Mortensen and Smit-McPhee deliver great performances but it doesn't really hook you up.

The clocks stopped at 1:17 The Road is directed by John Hillcoat (The Proposition) and written by Joe Penhall (Enduring Love). Based on the 2006 novel of the same name by American author Cormac McCarthy (No Country For Old Men), the film stars Viggo Mortensen and Kodi Smit-McPhee as a father and his son trying to survive in a post-apocalyptic world. How do you sell such a sombre piece to the film loving public? I'm not sure I personally can, such is the whirly like emotions dominating my thoughts. OK, it's a grim and bleak film, of that there's no doubt. Director Hillcoat is not out to make a thrilling end of the world actioner. Staying faithful to McCarthy's novel, this is now a world where animal & plant life is practically extinct, where this particular part of America is lawless and populated by cannibal types. Humanity has long since left the arena. How we arrived at such desolation is not clear - intentionally so. We are now just witnessing the after effects of something world changing, the fall out personally involving us as we hit the road with man & boy. Hillcoat and his cinematographer Javier Aguirresarobe have painted a clinically dead world from which to tell the story. Scorched soil is home to threadbare trees, the skyline punctured by the wreckage of man's progress passed, storms come and go as if to taunt the characters. It's a living hell that begs the question on why would anyone want to survive in it? So here's the thing that finally hit me like a sledgehammer some five days after watching the film, it's not just the bleakness of the apocalypse that gnaws away at you, it's also the expertly portrayed study of parenting. So emotively played by Mortensen, with Smit-McPhee essaying incredible vulnerability, it sinks the heart the longer the movie goes on. All of which is leading up to the ending, where we get something absorbing, revealing and utterly smart. Tough viewing for sure, but compelling and thought provoking throughout. 8/10

_**Grey, maudlin post-apocalyptic drama with some horrific thrills**_ After a mass extinction event, a man & his son (Viggo Mortensen and Kodi Smit-McPhee) walk from western Pennsylvania to the Southeast coast trying to survive a life-or-death situation in a world without laws as people prey on each other. Charlize Theron, Robert Duvall, Guy Pearce and Molly Parker show up for small parts. Based on Cormac McCarthy’s final novel, "The Road" (2009) is similar to “Carriers,” released almost three months earlier. Unlike semi-goofy post-apocalyptic films like the original Mad Max trilogy, "The Road" and "Carriers" are deadly serious from beginning to end with no comic book nonsense. This works in their favor because both films give us a window into what life would be like after a worldwide crisis destroys conventional society. Each film explores one's reaction to such a world-ending disaster: Do we forsake all sense of morality in an attempt to survive – lie, steal, forsake and murder – or do we hold on to our moral compass, come what may? Is life worth living if you must become an immoral, wicked savage to survive? Isn't it better to live with dignity at all costs – fight with nobility and die with dignity when and if we must? Some denounce both flicks on the grounds that they’re too downbeat and depressing, but wouldn't a lawless world be a very dire situation? In other words, the downbeat vibe reflects the reality of the story. However, “Carriers” is the superior of the two by far. “The Road” is tediously one-dimensional and unrelentingly somber. Plus the dynamics of the father & son are boring with the annoying boy almost singlehandedly ruining the movie. They needed to find a girl or a woman to shake things up – anything to dispel the grey monotony. The film runs 1 hour, 51 minutes, and was shot mostly in western Pennsylvania & West Virginia (the towering bridge), plus Oregon and Spirit Lake near Mount St. Helens, Washington (the log-jammed lake). GRADE: C+

**The Road paints a grim and genuine picture of the dangers and greed of a world surviving the collapse of society and hope.** The Road is a realistic and super depressing depiction of a post-apocalyptic world. Viggo Mortensen’s portrayal of an unyielding father doing whatever he can to keep his son alive and prepare him for survival is gripping and powerful. This movie made me want to hold my kids close, hug them tight, and thank the Lord we don’t live in that situation. Because of the gritty and gloomy atmosphere and subject matter of the film, it is not a movie I can say I enjoyed, but it was incredibly well done and well acted. The ending seemed pretty hopeful and easy compared to the rest of the film, which was disappointing and comforting as it felt unearned but also eased my concern for the characters' future. I will not revisit The Road, but I’m glad I have seen it.

Yikes, but this is bleak! Many years after some disaster has struck down American civilisation, we meet a man (Viggo Mortensen) and his curious young son (Kodi Smit-McPhee) who are trying to make it from the wooded hinterland to the coast in the hope that things might be better, and hopefully warmer, there. At least the ocean ought to add a bit of blue to their remarkably dull surroundings. They do have guns, but only two bullets which he is saving for emergencies should they encounter any of the other survivors from this apocalypse who might just decide that either or both of them are fare game. There is plenty of water, but a distinct paucity of food and so this is a continuing struggle to feed themselves and to stay alive. The young lad has never known any other kind of life so rather stoically, initially at least, follows as instructed. Dad, on the other hand, has memories - and those of his wife (Charlize Theron) provide him with the occasional succour as he realises, as do we, that things are not looking great for this pair - or, indeed, for humanity in general. There’s an engaging dynamic here between the two travellers; the photography goes some way to creating the cold and barren environment through which they wander and the very nature of story ensures that we are not constantly awash with excess dialogue as their journey speaks for itself. There’s a touching, if brief, contribution from Robert Duvall that proves surprisingly effective as the pair come more to terms with their situation, too. It’s a slow burn, this film, but that’s a good thing as we find ourselves increasingly immersed in something that I felt inevitable, chilly and unpredictable. I haven’t read the book, but this uses it’s imagery to tell a poignant story and is well worth two hours that can’t be that far distant from the original text.