It's easy to think up a post-apocalyptic world and how you would inhabit it; round up a couple of friends and family members, hoard your resources, and loot a local Wal-Mart of guns and supplies before holing up in a safe place with those you care about. But what would you realistically do?
There's no electricity, there's no communication, and you have no idea what's going on outside besides knowing civilization is coming to a end. Nearly all of humanity has been wiped out by some unknown cataclysm, and those who remain are either well-armed xenophobes or canabilistic mauraders. The sun has become obscured by a blanket of ashy grey sky, and plant and animal life is all but extinct.
That's the life that is depicted in the bleak and haunting future in the John Hillcoat directed Cormac McCarthy adapation The Road. The story centers on an ailing father (Viggo Mortensen) traveling south with his son (Kodi Smit-McPhee) when he realizes they cannot survive another winter at their present location. The journey follows the father as he wields a pistol with two bullets to protect his son from cannibals, starvation, and everything else the cruel world has to offer him and his uninitiated young boy.
More after the jump...
There's no electricity, there's no communication, and you have no idea what's going on outside besides knowing civilization is coming to a end. Nearly all of humanity has been wiped out by some unknown cataclysm, and those who remain are either well-armed xenophobes or canabilistic mauraders. The sun has become obscured by a blanket of ashy grey sky, and plant and animal life is all but extinct.
That's the life that is depicted in the bleak and haunting future in the John Hillcoat directed Cormac McCarthy adapation The Road. The story centers on an ailing father (Viggo Mortensen) traveling south with his son (Kodi Smit-McPhee) when he realizes they cannot survive another winter at their present location. The journey follows the father as he wields a pistol with two bullets to protect his son from cannibals, starvation, and everything else the cruel world has to offer him and his uninitiated young boy.
More after the jump...
Australian director Hillcoat could not have been better suited for the task of bringing the Pulitzer Prize-winning apocalyptic world to life. After having seen The Proposition it became clear this guy was a talent to watch. Hillcoat's talents coupled with Spanish cinematographer Javier Aguirresarobe and the haunting score of Nick Cave and Warren Ellis combine to create a completely realized and fully horrifying vision of the future.
Playwright and relatively new screenwriter Joe Penhall takes McCarthy's minimalistic story and doesn't mess with it. We're spared the gorier details, but the truth and honesty of the story stays intact and, in a day when everything becomes so homogenized and easy to consume, that is something truly worth applauding. The sincerity doesn't end there, as Mortensen again lends his considerable talents to the role of the father and leaves you feeling every bit as hopeless and afraid as his character. He's not just trying to protect and provide for his son, he's trying to teach him to cope with the harsh world because he knows he isn't going to be around forever. The scenes between the two of them are completely heartbreaking.
Wide-eyed Australian newcomer Smit-Mcphee also impresses as Mortensen's son who has yet to give up on humanity, and Charlize Theron does what she can with the limited role of the wife as she appears solely in flashback vignettes.
The Road is not an easy movie to watch. It may not even leave you feeling good afterwards (unless you think of "good" in the sense that you just saw a great movie.) But, despite its incredibly bleak nature, there are moments that are uplifting, and, if nothing else, you can witness a considerable talent pool all working in unison to deliver something very special: a real, sincere, and honest movie.
--Greg MacLennan
Playwright and relatively new screenwriter Joe Penhall takes McCarthy's minimalistic story and doesn't mess with it. We're spared the gorier details, but the truth and honesty of the story stays intact and, in a day when everything becomes so homogenized and easy to consume, that is something truly worth applauding. The sincerity doesn't end there, as Mortensen again lends his considerable talents to the role of the father and leaves you feeling every bit as hopeless and afraid as his character. He's not just trying to protect and provide for his son, he's trying to teach him to cope with the harsh world because he knows he isn't going to be around forever. The scenes between the two of them are completely heartbreaking.
Wide-eyed Australian newcomer Smit-Mcphee also impresses as Mortensen's son who has yet to give up on humanity, and Charlize Theron does what she can with the limited role of the wife as she appears solely in flashback vignettes.
The Road is not an easy movie to watch. It may not even leave you feeling good afterwards (unless you think of "good" in the sense that you just saw a great movie.) But, despite its incredibly bleak nature, there are moments that are uplifting, and, if nothing else, you can witness a considerable talent pool all working in unison to deliver something very special: a real, sincere, and honest movie.
--Greg MacLennan
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