Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
MOVIE REVIEW
The Road
The Bleak and The Weak, The Wrong and the Strong
Road trippin': Viggo Mortensen as the Man and Kodi-Smit
McPhee (background) as the Boy in John Hillcoat's drama "The Road", which opened today.
Dimension Films
By Omar P.L. Moore/PopcornReel.com
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Much delayed, John Hillcoat's post-apocalyptic dystopian film "The Road", based
on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Cormac McCarthy (who also wrote No
Country For Old Men) finally has its day in court -- excuse me, in movie
theaters, today, and it sustains itself after a tricky start, with good
performances by
Viggo Mortensen and newcomer Kodi Smit-McPhee as a father and son who
try to survive when the world around them hasn't.
Shot mostly in earth tones and adapted for the big screen by Joe Penhall, "The
Road" tracks an uneasy truce between and among various characters (none of whom
have names in the film) and the harshness of human nature and primal attitudes.
With little food and water to survive follow a collapse of the world ("2012"
is still fresh on the scene), the main characters rummage in foliage and scour
the abandoned parts of the U.S. hoping to find sanctuary. You know it
won't be easy, and you needn't read Mr. McCarthy's book to discover this.
Charlize Theron plays the mother and wife of this pair of Darwinian subjects and
it's readily apparent that her character, one of the least developed and poorest
acted, has to sacrificed. Mr. Penhall's wandering script lets the actors
down to a degree, though the acting by Mr. Mortensen, who like Christian Bale
has often offered himself up to be put to the ultimate physical endurance test
as an actor, is very good. He has to teach his son the rules of the road
that aren't there or seen -- trust, safety and compassion -- a road that proves
awfully rocky. As the Man, Mr. Mortensen has to be the film's propulsive
heart, even if much of the film is as barren and silent as its substance.
There's a nice cameo from Robert Duvall, on screen for about five minutes as an
old man who appears to have beaten the odds, and his presence gives the film a
weight that it frequently lacks, even with an actor the stature of Mr.
Mortensen, who brings out the best in Mr. Smit-McPhee, who forms the film's
conscience and its future.
Upon seeing "The Road" I can't help but think of the film
"Wendy And
Lucy", which for many American audiences opened in January and
February this year. There's actually an interesting comparison: Michelle
Williams is excellent in a contemporary America as a homeless woman traversing
the Pacific Northwest looking for her dog, enveloping herself in virtual silence
throughout, and in "The Road", much the same emptiness and desolation unfolds
even with the school of hard knocks firmly in place.
In Mr. Hillcoat's film moral dilemmas will either keep the father-son duo honest
or make horrors of them both, but the director doesn't make a horror of this
long-awaited film, giving audiences occasional respite from the bleak visions,
albeit wonderfully-photographed ones by Javier Aguirresarobe, with sunny
remembrance shots of a life once better lived. Are the rites of passage to
manhood what you see in "The Road"? I'm not sure exactly, but I can hardly
think of a more rigorous initiation into adulthood.
With: Guy Pearce, Molly Parker, Michael K. Williams, Garret Dillahunt, Bob
Jennings, Agnes Herrmann and Gina Preciado.
"The Road" is rated R by the Motion Picture
Association Of America for some violence, disturbing images and language. The film's running time is
one hour and 59 minutes.
Read more movie reviews and stories from Omar
here.
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