The Web Haunt of Ryan K Lindsay

I read The Road by Cormac McCarthy because my brother told me to. He read it because it was post-apocalyptic fiction, as did I. He also said it was damn good. Once I was finished, which was only a few days later, I agreed. It wasn’t long after that for news of a movie to trickle through and get me excited. The two main exciting aspects being the involvement of John Hillcoat and Viggo Mortensen. I held my breath and waited. Waited a very long time.

The movie kept getting pushed back, and I had hoped this time it was to make the prime time for Oscar awards season. Either the movie overshot the mark or it just wasn’t as good as I had hoped because it didn’t get a single nod that I could see. Which is a shame because I can think of 3 or 4 noms I’d sling its way. But before that I’d better review the flick.

The Road looks brilliant. Everything is black and grey, no bright colours have survived whatever caused this complete phenomenon of death and destruction. I still veer towards thinking it was something environmental in nature. The Man and The Boy trek across the land in search of the water to the south. It’s a sad and fruitless journey, only to be made sadder along the way by cannibalistic bastards on the roads looking for whatever they can find.

The movie is bleak, and you need to be prepared for that. Viggo Mortensen is in a constant state of emotional strain, and his son, Kodi Smit-McPhee, gets dragged through the mud at every turn. The pair carry a gun with two bullets left, one each. A chance encounter sees Viggo use one of those shells and so for the rest of the movie you can see he is even more pained that he will be left alone in the world because there is no way in hell he’ll allow his son to succumb to anything evil that roams in the ashy wastes that surround them.

The scenes of human anguish are real, and when they first venture into a cellar only to find the pale and limbless people who are being harvested for food you want to jump or scream or express some guttural emotion. It’s horrific and the aftermath is just as taxing. The movie puts you against a wall and then starts to twist and grind you.

The Boy carries his half of the movie well, he is all heart, or at least the character tries to be. He wants to help those he stumbles across, and seems to be able to sense when they are worthy of this help. The Man, however, never sees this distinction in people because he is lost to humanity, and has lost faith in it. It’s sad, but The Man is without hope completely.

The essence of the movie is boiled down, for me, in one line by The Man:

The boy is the word of God and if he is not then God never spoke.

It says so much about his view on the world and on his son. It’s heartbreaking and I warn you, if you have children, that this film will be confronting. I’m glad I saw it before I had a kid, or even a son, in the same way I’m glad I read Pet Sematary early as well. It’s emotionally draining, but that’s what you go in expecting. That’s what is meant to happen.

I’d certainly give an Oscar nod to Viggo Mortensen. The man is a powerhouse of emotion at all times and yet there are scenes where he relaxes and he plays this so well, especially in the scenes in the bunker. I’d give a nod to director John Hillcoat because his vision is so complete and tactile. Everything is right there in the mise en scene and that’s an impressive feat. I’d think about possibly throwing some nods towards the script and The Boy but my other certainty would be Charlize Theron.

Theron plays The Wife in flashbacks only and she is phenomenal. If I was going to cry in a movie, and it’s only happened twice, then she would have done it. Her scenes are pure anguish and she nails them perfectly. You leave her last scene just wondering what else could go wrong. The world has just ended and she is so blessedly cold. It’s a chilly performance and a commendable one because it certainly could not have been easy to deliver.

It’s not a movie you walk away saying you loved, but I damn well respected it. I couldn’t watch it every week, but it was forever linger within me, much as the book is. It’s a masterful adaptation and an impressive flick. I’d suggest you check it out for those reasons.

Posted on February 7th, 2010 by ryan
Filed under: movies