Nov
26
“The Road” Review
Filed Under Movies
Arriving just in time for Thanksgiving, “The Road” is this year’s latest entry in the apocalypse porn genre. It comes on the heels of other cataclysmic popcorn flicks like “Terminator Salvation,” “Zombieland” and “2012.” Have we become cynical? I hope so.
The film is an adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Cormac McCarthy. Its theatrical release was delayed a full year, rarely a positive sign. And so, I adjusted my expectations accordingly going in. I liked the book well enough. I didn’t find it to be as shattering as the news that Oprah’s going off the air in 2011, but it resonated with me all the same. I personally dig stories set during the glum period after everyone else has been Raptured up.
The film is pretty faithful to the source material. The trailers make it out to be “The Road Warrior” with Charlize Theron, but it’s not an action pic, nor is it a Charlize Theron pic. It’s the moodiest, hungriest and most existential road movie you’re likely to see, and that’s taking into consideration “Road Trip” starring Tom Green.
In the film, Man (Viggo Mortensen) and Boy (Kodi Smit-McPhee) are heading south on a ribbon of blacktop several years after Roland Emmerich’s destroyed the Earth a hundred times over in “2012 Part II: 2013.” All their belongings are piled into a creaky shopping cart. Man also carries a pistol with two bullets, one for each of them should things go sideways. Along the way, they encounter different sorts of rogues and scamps: cannibals and other hopeless individuals like them. Everyone sort of resembles the folks you see on PeopleOfWalMart.com but better dressed.
I enjoyed the film. I think I would’ve liked more tension throughout. Man and Boy get into a few tight spots, but seem to easily escape from whatever marauders they encounter. The environment could’ve been harsher, too. I’m always annoyed when critics and filmmakers refer to a location in a film as a character in and of itself, and yet I felt the landscape in the movie needed more personality, to be more desolate and unforgiving. Yeah, it’s ugly, but modern day Detroit looks way worse and the world hasn’t even ended yet.
All that being said, “The Road” as an adaptation is much more solid than I’d expected. I was pleasantly surprised. That’s a strange critique for a downer movie like this, but there you go.
-Brad Lohan
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Charlize Theron is such a very very beautiful woman. She also has a flawless skin and i love her acting skills.
Wow, Stephanie, your in-depth analysis of Charlize Theron’s flesh and talent is worthy of the Pulitzer Prize in blog comments.