MUBI

A very intense movie experience, which really is the reason I am going to the cinema. The movie has its minor flaws, a few script-mess ups and a weak score but the bulldozing force of its vision events them all out and slaps you right in your cineastic face. The story of man and his boy fighting for survival is literally a post-apocalyptic road movie. Long shots of desolation and grey skies is feast for all fans of cinematography and many of the shots and scenes are like a romanticist painting to behold. Viggo Mortensen does what he does best and once again melts together and tender heartfulness glowing from his eyes with fierce determination and grit, the perfect character in a post-apocalyptic world is a caring father who at the same time must face the rest of the world in order to survive. And the rest of the world is one bad ass enemy. The movie takes no prisoners when it comes to portraying mankind as bundle of brutal animals (which we are and you know it). Murdering, Raping, Pillaging, Cannibalism, keeping naked humans as food reserve (no joke) and stuff like that will keep your stomach on a merry-go-round. The movie focusses on the evolving and complicated relationship between father and son, and despite the question whether they will manage to survive, there is not much of a “story” in the classic sense of out-of-the-drawer moviemaking. That makes the movie more of a contemplating poem than blockbuster, very enjoyable and tender.

As I said, the script could have been better, a few things do not add up, such as the ending on some incident that seem to have been thrown in for good measure or taken from the novel without putting them in your context and I found myself wondering what that was about a few times. Also, Charlize Theron’s role is very unnecessary and annoying. Maybe her character had to be cut short, but her scenes are uninteresting. Her acting is very technical as well, and you can tell she did not have much material to work with.

Nick Cave’s OST is a tad uninspired and by listening to it, I can see what he was going for, but ultimately he does not cross the line between average post-apocalyptic depression minimalist piano tune and stroke of genius.

A fantastic movie, but beware of its rough edges, literally, It might turn your stomach.

Viggo is, as always, a miracle on the screen. Smith-McPhee is very believable. Look out for a touching fireside chat with rundown Robert Duvall, the icing on the cake.

Henrik

In reading and viewing themes about a despairing society, I think Cormac McCarthy’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel of a post-apocalyptic setting stands out the most than John Hillcoat’s adaptation for film. I am particularly critical of the film version because it does not appear as menacing as the original story did. Of course, this is not denying that the film was horrific, especially mankind diverting into cannibalism, but there were certain elements in the film that just did not flow well. The violence seems to be limited as opposed to the novel. Of course, a filmmaker can utilize the emotional feel of a film with certain reaction shots without necessary seeing the true horror, which builds up tension.

Perhaps, it was the pacing that I had difficulty with, unlike McCarthy’s original that had a subtle feel from what I felt as I reading. The film definitely had the backdrop, personifying the setting as complete chaos with a bleak color scheme. It puts in context of how man can ultimately lose his self-control in a moral structure. In a sense, McCarthy makes mankind a beast, even playing with the idea of eating his own flesh and blood, especially the sequence involving the basement full of innocent lives.

Viggo Mortensen as the father, being a poet himself really played out in a graceful manner and a parent that deeply cared for his child that seemed real. The child actor, I only wished he branched out more with his dialogue in some portions of the film. His physique, however, really stood out, playing an angelic figure. I think McCarthy tries to give a clear viewpoint of how man tampers with insanity; it nearly becomes a social commentary of how anarchy unfolds. McCarthy plays with the title, which is an obvious metaphor for the “road of life” and uses it in irony as there is no hope/life anymore.

Cormac McCarthy’s “The Road” is my favorite piece of modern literature I have ever read so I went into this movie as a skeptic because I loved the novel so much. Now, As far as set design and over all cinematography this movie is a truly remarkable representation of the book. However coming off of the book I had a standard in mind when it came to the storytelling and the centerpiece throughout the entire novel which is the relationship between the father and son, and in that respect this movie fell short. It highlights the major events from the book, and those events only make up maybe 15-20% of the novel. The novel is truly about the journey these two take with all of the weather conditions and the strain that puts on their bodies and mentality while still holding onto the hope they have in their relationship.The film hints at that but to my disappointment it never captures it the way the novel does. That is the true genius behind the book and what I was looking for most in the film. After saying that though I realize that there are themes and explanations present in books that movies can never truly capture so I don’t want to criticize the movie too harshly because they didn’t include all that I had hoped for. They did create a great representation of the book and the actors all give a phenomenal performance so from a film perspective it is a great movie, but this story is just better told in a book format in my opinion.

Never before have I seen a film so bleak and unforgiving. Tragedy befalls us all, but never before has it been so deeply realized as in The Road. The world has become completely unforgiving, food being so scarce it’s almost non-existent. Cannibalism has become the most crystalline fear, of everyone. Robbery has become the necessary evil in order to survive the wilderness, and even things such as a shower are closer to fantasy. Quite simply, with this much hopelessness and true horror, there shouldn’t be a glimmer hope. But there is in the relationship between the father and son, who despite the challenges have stayed true to one another and marginally positive. The characters simply face some of the most disturbing choices you can imagine, even given the setting. It’s a testament to the director John Hillcoat that when the father turns his pistol on his son, you understand that to be the character’s best option at saving them. The thought process is, better to die quick than be cannibalized and put into slavery (not in that order).

Viggo Mortensen reminds me why he’s our modern day version of Harrison Ford. His choice of roles is very selective but I always find myself intrigued by his magnetism and quiet strength. Both those qualities are put on display here. Viggo bares it all, literally and figuratively, in his characterization of the father. You see his anguish, understand his regret and appreciate his moral code. In fact, when his character finally shows his flaws, your heart breaks that much more because you have seen him accomplish so much despite the odds stacked against him and his son. Kodi Smit-McPhee is also putting in solid work here. I especially liked the fact that when he cried, he sounded much younger, as well as the teddy bear he carried with him. It reminded you that this child was robbed of his innocence at such a young age that the only piece of his former self that he could hold onto was that bear. While the environment forced him to grow up fast, he is, still, a child, and his emotion really grabbed me. The supporting roles were also high caliber. Garret Dillahunt, Robert Duvall, Michael K. Williams and the brief appearance by Guy Pearce were all inspired choices. While these performances were more accents to the landscape than actual figures to the plot, they all represented different aspects of the good and bad of the world the characters inhabit.

I think at this point Hillcoat has proven to be a master of atmosphere. Between this and The Proposition, the man knows exactly what kind of film he wants to make and accomplishes just that. I think he deals with emotions that big budget films won’t, and for that he hasn’t quite his the mainstream yet, but I anxiously anticipate his next venture.

All in all, The Road is a bleak, depressing and wholly complete vision of the world past the brink of chaos. I vaugely remember the book, but I believe this adaptation is quite faithful to Cormac McCarthy’s work tonally. I wouldn’t call this a favorite film of mine, but I certainly can’t find anything I think is wrong with it.

“The Road” is excellent. Viggo Mortensen is fantastic (as always) and I can’t even describe what an emotional impact it had on me as a film. I drove 100 miles to see this film and it was well worth it. It was sad, but in the end the struggle was worth the prize. It was almost a religious experience and the ending gave me hope for the human race.
Oscar snub update:
“The Road” is an unrelenting tale of survival after an apocalyptic event that challenges a small family unit of father, son and mother. This magnificent yet unseen film deserved Oscar nominations for Viggo Mortensen, the brilliantly believable cinematography,the haunting score and the film itself. This film will linger in your thoughts long after you see it as all great films do. This is one road you won’t soon forget in your cinematic journey of excellence.

Rarely have I watched a movie based on a favorite book that gets the mental image in my mind so astonishingly close on screen, but Aussie director John Hillcoat (“The Proposition”) perfectly matches the bleak, punishingly desperate visuals of Cormac McCarthy’s masterpiece to an apocalyptic cinematic vision. Viggo Mortensen and young Kodi Smit-McPhee are excellent as McCarthy’s man and son traveling south on foot through a decimated American landscape, scorched by an unseen apocalypse that has left little food, humanity, or reason for existence, but the greatness of the piece, book and movie, is the duo’s moving struggle for survival, and their bonding in the face of an unthinkable situation is emotionally well realized. In flashbacks, Charlize Theron plays the boy’s mother, slowly losing her grip on sanity as the apocalypse escalates, and the early happiness of the flashbacks gives a welcome burst of color to a film composed mostly of browns, yellows, and greys.

The very first thing that caught my attention in The Road was the cinematography, which is one of the best I’ve ever seen. With moments where I actually thought the scene might have been black and white, and the even more beautiful dream sequences of color. I can’t imagine such an apocalyptic future looking any more beautiful than it did in this Film. I think the greatest thing, though, about The Road is the focus on the relationship of the Father and Son, two nameless characters destined to share the long road on the way to starvation and death with only themselves. Hillcoat and his team force you to only think about the two characters, giving viewers no color, bleak music, and hardly any explanation for what’s happened to the world. I realized, it’s not about the end of the world, it’s about the love between a Man and his Son. The suspense was almost unbearable at times, and overall the Film is flat out depressing. I was actually driven to the verge of n anxiety attack thinking about the movie possibly becoming a reality one day. The only complaint I have is the ending. I really am not a big fan of warm Hollywood endings. There were a handful of other ways this movie could have ended and earned a five star rating.

The Road adalah sebuah film drama yang diadaptasi dari novel pemenang Pulitzer berjudul sama yang ditulis oleh Cormac McCarthy dan dirilis pada tahun 2006. Pada awalnya, film ini akan dirilis untuk bersaing di ajang Academy Awards pada tahun 2008. Namun, The Weinstein Company akhirnya memilih untuk menjagokan film Kate Winslet, The Reader, dan mendorong The Road untuk bersaing di Academy Awards tahun berikutnya.

The Road sendiri menceritakan mengenai hubungan ayah (Viggo Mortensen) dan anak (Kodi Smit-McPhee) yang mencoba untuk bertahan setelah sebuah kejadian (yang tidak dijelaskan secara khusus di dalam film) telah menyebabkan keadaan Bumi menjadi sangat rusak dan hampir membunuh seluruh umat manusia. Mereka berdua kini berkelana di jalanan tanpa membawa apapun kecuali pakaian yang melekat di tubuh, satu kereta berisi makanan, sepucuk senjata berisi dua butir peluru untuk membela diri dan… satu sama lain.

Di dalam perjalanannya, sang ayah berusaha untuk terus melindungi sang anak ketika mereka menemui banyak rintangan dan beberapa orang lainnya yang mencoba mengganggu dan mengancam kehidupan mereka. Sang ayah juga berusaha untuk mengajarkan pada anaknya mengenai cara bertahan dari kerasnya hidup dan untuk tidak mudah mempercayai orang lain. Sang ayah juga selama dalam perjalanannya menghadapi masalah pribadi sendiri ketika bayang-bayang akan sang istri (Charlize Theron) yang pergi meninggalkannya sepertinya tidak mau hilang dari pemikirannya.

Masalah mulai datang diantara mereka berdua ketika sang ayah menyadari bahwa lingkungan yang tidak bersahabat dengan suhu yang membeku ternyata membuat kesehatannya mulai menurun, yang berarti kematian bisa saja datang untuk memisahkannya dari sang anak.

Bagi mereka yang mengharapkan sebuah tontonan ala film-film bertema disaster dengan beberapa efek khusus, karena membaca premis film ini yang berada di suasana post-apocalypctic, tentu akan merasa sangat kecewa. Seperti yang tertulis di atas, film ini tidak menceritakan apa yang sebenarnya terjadi pada saat tersebut. Yang ada hanyalah penggambaran situasi selepas kejadian buruk tersebut terjadi; suhu menurun, debu bercampur dengan abu berterbangan dimana-mana, pepohonan menjadi sangat rapuh sehingga dapat tumbang kapan saja dan, tentu saja, para manusia yang kini terlihat seperti spesies yang berada di ambang kepunahan. Jarang terlihat.

The Road adalah sebuah film yang tampil layaknya catatan personal dari hubungan antara ayah dan anak yang berusaha untuk menemani dan melindungi satu sama lain. Di perjalanannya, sang ayah berusaha mendidik dan mempersiapkan sang anak bila suatu saat ia harus tinggal sendiri. Di sisi lain, sang anak juga tumbuh belajar untuk menjadi dewasa dan juga berusaha untuk menemani sang ayah yang masih terus dihantui oleh bayangan sang istri yang telah meninggalkannya.

Cukup sentimental, namun itulah yang diberikan dalam The Road. Anda tidak akan menemukan sesuatu yang berlebihan disini, baik dari sisi drama maupun sisi visual. Tone yang dihadirkan oleh sutradara John Hillcoat juga cenderung lebih datar dengan jumlah konflik yang lebih sederhana dari yang dihadirkan Cormac McCarthy pada versi novel dari The Road. Walau begitu, tetap saja The Road mampu menampilkan dan menyampaikan emosi yang hendak diberikan pada penontonnya, khususnya dikarenakan penampilan Mortensen dan Smit-McPhee yang sangat memuaskan.

Selain dua aktor utama di film ini, The Road juga menampilkan penampilan singkat dari Robert Duvall, Charlize Theron, Guy Pearce, Michael K Williams dan Molly Parker. Kehadiran mereka, walau singkat (dan hampir tidak dapat dikenali karena tata make-up mereka), tetap memberikan pengaruh tersendiri pada jalan cerita film ini. Di sisi teknikal, film ini juga memberikan tata sinematografi yang cukup baik disertai tata musik moody yang dibuat oleh Nick Cave dan Warren Ellis, yang membuat atmosfer kelam yang ingin ditampilkan di film ini menjadi lebih terasa.

Tampil sederhana, cenderung datar dan disajikan dengan durasi waktu yang cukup singkat, The Road sepenuhnya mengandalkan kekuatan jalan cerita yang ditampilkan dan penampilan dari kedua aktor utamanya untuk menghidupkan jalan cerita tersebut. Untungnya, Hillcoat memiliki orang-orang yang tepat untuk mengisi posisi-posisi tersebut. The Road, dengan segala kesederhanaan dan kemuramannya, mungkin bukanlah sebuah film untuk semua orang. Namun ketika Anda berhasil menempatkan diri Anda di jalan cerita dan hanyut bersamanya, Anda akan sadar bahwa The Road adalah sebuah film yang memiliki artian lebih. A quietly devastating and powerful movie.

Rating: 4 / 5

Cormac McCarthy is one of my favorite authors. To classify his writing as difficult would be an understatement; however, when I read The Road for the first time (I have re-read it twice since), I was blown away by the accessibility of his prose. And make no mistake about it, it is McCarthy’s talent for text-driven characters that sets him apart. So it was with great anticipation, albeit reticence, that I watched The Road. Disappointment, pure and simple. The Road – Light would have been a better title. The relationship of the father and his son never developed. The tension of always waiting and watching…didn’t happen. It wasn’t all bad. Robert Duvall’s Old Man was a light in a film full of darkness (no pun intended). I wanted so much more from this film and was left, quite literally, high and dry. Rent it first before you buy.

The penetrating language of Cormac McCarthy is so emotionally grounding that all The Road needed was segments of the first-person narrative converted into voice over and a team of equal-minded artists to move the vehicle forward. Not having read The Road, but other McCarthy novels, I sense that director John Hillcoat has captured the story as well as a film adaptation could. What has survived the transition is an unforgiving, cathartic work of constant suspense that is perhaps repetitive and self-consuming. Much dislike will arise from the film’s bleakness and lack of great reward, but no one can go without appreciating every instant of Viggo Mortensen’s truthfulness. He and rising performer Kodi Smit-McPhee are the nucleus of human goodness, carrying the fire through a terrain of violence born of desperation. Their goodness is always at risk, always on the edge, evoking a sense of danger around every corner. It’s a marvel to see society reduced to primitive looting and cannibalism and how closely it resembles the atrocities on any level of the human condition. Duvall’s small supporting role, with the assistance of excellent make-up, costuming, and the haunting effect of a flickering firelight is one of the most otherwordly and moving events of the film. Charlize Theron’s brief work is also quite flooring. It’s not perfect, but it’s a genuine experience.

This movie was a lot better than I thought it would be. The trailer made this movie look like it would some Michael Bay fest. But I enjoyed the few moments that reminded me of the book. Though I really do not like this adaptation. I would recommend the book to anyone who likes a good post apocalyptic story. Now the people that the story was good do not watch this movie. For the people who liked the story but felt it was extremely boring and could not analytically read it I recommend this movie. The movie contains the action scenes of the book but throw out the most important parts of the book that construct the perspective in the first place. There is a stupid scene where they are dodging trees that are falling down which looks like the scene from Live free or die hard. The trees pile up just like the stupid cars did. Also in the book as I recall the boy had no name at all but in the movie they call him Sean for a moment. Why? I do not even want to talk about the stupid flashback sequences with Charlize Theron whining and walking into the dark abyss. Why did they make the Viggo Mortenson cough up blood near the end of the movie? He was supposed to be coughing up that stuff the entire time! Sadly, I thought for a brief moment John Hillcoat could make something better than this considering he made The Proposition. I think in the beginning of the movie they are running from a wall of slowly moving fire. Oh boy do I smell Independence Day? This movie was an optimistic interpretation of the book not saying that’s bad but it completely changes the overall meaning. By the way the book is not the best thing ever written I noticed I was talking it up when comparing it to this trash. That’s the last time I go to theaters for awhile. Thank you John Hillcoat!

My two stars are for the script (which is mostly from the novel) and the acting (which is mostly good), but the film fails massively due to the lack of a stylistically bold director and a horribly sentimental score that undercuts it at every chance.

McCarthy did something wonderful with the novel—he stripped down the language and narrative until there was almost nothing left—it’s as sparse and as bleak as the landscape the characters wander.

The film does nothing to reflect that. It feels like it wants to be Oscar-bait, except it’s in no way mainstream enough to have a shot.

One of the most highly anticipated films of the year, THE ROAD is simply breathtaking in its stark premise and structure. Two figures, a man and a boy walk onward across an ash grey backdrop. Around them there is nothing but death, dead animals, trees and plants dying. Most terrifying, there is the threat of death from the other survivors. After an unspecified calamity the world is ruined and after that there is nothing but the road. The two continue ever forward, merely hoping to survive. Sometimes painful memories pop in; sometimes brief glimmers of hope appear in the form of canned food or a cold bath in the river.

Award winning novelist Cormac McCarthy has created a story that strips off all the pretension and artifice of the Hollywood apocalypse and presented us with a story about simple survival, and the waiting game played at the end of the world. Director John Hillcoat has succeeded in masterfully bringing this story to the screen with almost no changes, which is quite a feat in and of itself. The film’s gorgeous decay and bleak tone are wonders. This year’s path to the Best Picture award begins on THE ROAD.

Weinstein exec 1: “So what can we do that will put asses in the seat while maintaining a facade of having more than surface value?”

Weinstein exec 2: “Gah, I don’t feel like thinking about all of that. Let’s just make another movie about some random scientifically unexplainable apocalypse. People seem to be terrified of things like that right now, and we can capitalize off of it.”

Weinstein exec 1: “Excellent! I’ll call that guy from the Lord of the Rings.”