DVD Review #38

The Road (2009) Viggo Mortensen, Kodi Smit-Mcphee Directed By John Hillcoat

The Road is a somber film from start to finish. It doesn’t contain any hope, humanity, or happy endings, but it is worth a watch on rainy sad day if for nothing else but to remind you that things could be worse. The Road is based on a Cormac McCarthy novel (she wrote No Country for Old Men) and her tone and style is very gothic and dark. Relatively new director John Hillcoat (he previously did a small film called The Proposition) stays true to that style creating a dark and unpleasant film that is at times hard to watch, but so easy to predict. It is powerful, but ultimately falls short of greatness due to its lack of hope and a few fatale scenes that really steal what’s left of humanity from its main character…in the end really you’re are left with mostly hopelessness.

The Road is the story of a Father (Viggo Mortenson doing a good job with the part) and Son (Kodi Smit-McPhee whose at times annoying but grows on you) traveling south in a post apocalyptic world. There is no explanation really of what has happened and the only things that are clear are that the few remaining humans are struggling to survive due to food shortage and it is everyone for them self. As you can imagine hope and good will aren’t easy to come by. The pair walk through wasteland overcoming many obstacles along their way south. Most of the screen-time is taken by the father and son pair, but we are shown (via flashback) other characters and places such as the Mother (Charlize Theron who is unlikable in her part) giving birth to child as the world burns. The movie is slow but captivating, you are always curious to see what will happen next and you are constantly nervous as you anticipate it being something horrible (and it usually is). The Road is not a film for the faint of heart or the easily saddened, but it is a good film that will stay with you for good while after you watch it. The story is incomplete, but if you know Cormac McCarthy you know that is expected. I moderately recommend it for a somber day and I highly recommend a bottle of wine (try Benton Lane, the best of the Oregon Pinot Niors).

(The Shawshank Scale 1-10) A somber, sad, depressing film that never brightens…but a moving enough father/son tale that admirably earns it 6.0 rating on the Shawshank Scale.