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Trust Weighted
Very Good
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92Trust Points
Wick's Review
Summary - Very Good 3.5
Think of this de facto zombie movie as No Country for Little Boys: a surreally grim milieu through which a dauntless Father must shepherd his pure-hearted Son. Such a nihilistic extravaganza creates ample opportunities for life lessons of the most extreme sort. The result is gripping, though a little wearying and dangerously close to ridiculous. (See Play and CircoReality below for why.)
Fortunately it’s performed by great actors working at the top of their craft, directed with consummate skill and taken from a novel by a master of bleakness.
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Random Note: You gotta wonder why more movies aren’t titled The Road. Aside from the iconic role of the road in so many movies, when buying a ticket you get to say “One for The Road.”
Acting - Great 4.0
Viggo Mortensen and Charlize Theron don’t always sell their many over-the-top emotional moments, though they inhabit their roles in full and with marked distinction, the hallmark of great movie acting. And they certainly have a memorable concert scene together. There’s a satisfied memory. Still, neither emotes especially well: Mortensen ain’t no Duvall, and Theron sure as hell ain’t no Streep.
Speaking of Robert Duvall, he nails his cameo, his trademark quicksilver expressions devastatingly impactful through the crusted-over makeup he’s wearing. An all-time great, he wrings more emotion out of a facial tick than most actors get out of a death scene.
Back to Mortensen, his criminal hero from Eastern Promises remains his perfect role, notwithstanding the praise this performance has garnered from some critics.
Male Stars - Great 4.0
Female Stars - Great 4.0
Female Costars - Great 4.0
Male Costars - Perfect 5.0
DuvallFilm - Very Good 3.5
John Hillcoat directing from a Cormac McCarthy novel makes for a marriage made in Hell – a complement. Hillcoat’s brief oeuvre includes the cult classic Ghosts… of the Civil Dead, while McCarthy hit it big when the Coen Brothers adapted his No Country for Old Men into last year’s Best Picture.
Direction - Great 4.0
"Massie says of _Ghosts... of the Civil Dead_":http://www.viewguide.com/movie_reviews/1189-ghosts-of-the-civil-dead that "The film builds into a horrid depressing rhythm and is just a masterclass in directing and editing." The same can be said of *The Road*. On a lighter note, Hillcoat deftly establishes his story in the present by showing Father and Son guzzling XXX Vitamin Water. As it happens, I had taken a swig of XXX just prior to this scene. Cool.Dialogue - Very Good 3.5
Cormac McCarthy - a bleak master if ever there was one - here fashioned a world of unremitting evil, apparently in order to posit how one good man would make his way through it. For me, the moral fascination proved insufficient to overcome the mawkishness of the proceedings.Music - Very Good 3.5
Visuals - Great 4.0
Edge - Sordid 2.7
The tangible threat of cannibalism – though more suggested than shown – certainly qualifies as Savage.
Sex Titillating 2.4
Violence Savage 4.0
Rudeness Salty 1.7
Reality - Surreal 2.4
The story plays like a worst case scenario as imagined by the secular Left: a soured environment mocks Man, and people are sources of harm rather than productivity. Do survivors seek spiritual sustenance in such a Hell? No. God is absent yet not missed.
Of particular concern to the movie’s effectiveness, the unnamed calamity that destroys society seems to be a combination of inexplicable natural disaster and de facto zombification. So it plays like a zombie movie without the zombies. How convenient.
Circumstantial - Surreal 3.0
Wouldn't you know it: Father and son always arrive *just after* people have been butchered, the blood still fresh. For years this keeps up...Biological - Surreal 2.1
Physical - Surreal 2.1
6 Comments
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Wick Oct 30, 2010 7:37PM
Regarding BrianSez’s Review
An understandable rating Bri. This is a movie that can hit reasonable reviewers differently, as the three ratings of Perfect down to OK indicate. -
Wick Dec 12, 2009 2:17PM
Nope, don’t think I’m gonna see Lovely Bones. However, that means you’ll have a clear shot to declare the WikPik take on it…
High on my In Theater list now is Up In The Air, Fantastic Mr. Fox and Brothers. Saw Invictus last night. Should have my review up by tomorrow.
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MJ5K Dec 12, 2009 11:26AM
Regarding Wick’s Review
Ah, no worries. I respect everyone’s opinion(unless I see something horrible like someone giving Transformers a 5 Perfect and Dark Knight only a 4 Great). I just loved this movie ’cause of the brilliant performances, the dialogue, and the way it brought the book to the screen.BTW Are you planning to see the Lovely Bones? I need to know if its worth it cuz I’m hearing mixed reviews.
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Wick Dec 12, 2009 12:26AM
Regarding Wick’s Review
Sorry I couldn’t give it a higher score MJ. It’s got a lot to recommend it and was often moving, so a Perfect is certainly understandable. -
MJ5K Dec 6, 2009 1:03AM
Thnx, Wik. I love the In Theaters Now default on the movie page. I was very much surprised to see no one’s reviewed New Moon, yet. And don’t ask me to review it. My girlfriend dragged me to Twilight last year, and let me just say there is no cheese at the end of that tunnel lol
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Wick Dec 6, 2009 12:11AM
Regarding MetalJunky5000’s Review
Solid review MJ5K. “Viggo Mortensen’s very visible ribs” indeed. :-)I’m pleased to see your well conceived take. Been struggling with mine for four days. Now that I don’t have to worry about pulling it together, you can have TopPiks for the next few days.
BTW, check out how the new Movies page defaults to In Theater movies now. Next step is for each movie to show its most trusted commentary. For ever, especially for as long as a movie is In Theaters.