Reviewed by Adam Mast, Zboneman.com.
Its been a long road for John Hillcoat’s adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. The film’s release has been pushed back for myriad reasons, and strangely, Dimension Films in its infinite wisdom has decided to release this bleak, post apocalyptic drama during the holiday season.
Pic: Viggo Mortensen takes a trip down The Road.
The Road stars Viggo Mortnensen as a man who will stop at nothing to protect his son in a world where famine, earthquakes, and cannibalism are every day occurrences. John Hillcoat brings to this literary adaptation of The Road the same authenticity he brought to his stunning Australian western The Proposition. I use the word authenticity loosely as we hardly know what the end of the world scenario will truly be like, but I have a sneaking suspicion it would play out a little more like this than it does in 2012. Rather than going into the realm of high octane action like Mad Max or taking a detour into sci fi like I Am Legend, The Road opts for an intimate, character driven father/son story set to the backdrop of a world gone to hell.
This is a movie about desperation and the lengths to which some will go to survive, but it isn’t afraid to show us the other side of the human condition; the one in which an individual might opt to give up. In this regard, there were moments in The Road that reminded me a bit of Frank Darabont’s adaptation of Stephen King’s The Mist, but again, McCarthy’s source material showcases an entirely different kind of monster.
The Road is extremely well crafted technically speaking. The cinematography (by Javier Aguirresarobe) is gorgeous as is the art direction (by Gershon Ginsburg), both of which transport the viewer to this beaten down planet through visions of desolate landscapes and grim black and grays. The haunting score by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis adds another layer to this bleak experience.
Viggo Mortensen is outstanding here and once again, he’s able to convey true power through a mere glance. With some actors, body language is every bit as effective as dialogue delivery. Mortensen is certainly one of those actors. Kodi Smit-McPhee is strong as Mortensen’s terrified son. Not only is this little boy being raised in an extremely hostile environment, but it’s with the knowledge that his father may not always be there to protect him. The Road is peppered with a cast of strong supporting players who just sort of pop up throughout the picture. They include Charlize Theron as Mortensen’s concerned wife, Guy Pierece as a mysterious traveler, and a brilliant Robert Duvall who lights up the screen as an elderly blind man.
Not all comes up roses in The Road. We never get a true sense of what drives specific characters to desperate measures, because we haven’t really seen what lead to such dire times. We’re just sort of thrown head first into the shit storm. One character’s ultimate choice feels a little underdeveloped as an end result. Furthermore, there are some moments, most notably in the final act, that are a tad overplayed. Included; an exchange between Mortensen and McPhee that brought to mind a moment from the Jon Voight/Ricky Schroder boxing drama The Champ, and a weird union at the end of the picture that’s supposed to represent hope for the human race, but really just sort of creeped me out.
Overall, The Road is one of those pictures that I wanted to love, but its more of a movie to admire. It certainly has courage and dares to go places most other studio pictures would shy away from, but it isn’t quite the unforgettable end-of-the-world morality play it aspires to be. At the end of the day though, this post apocalyptic road movie is infinitely more intriguing than Kevin Costner’s The Postman.
