As I have often mentioned before, I have a big liking for post apocalyptic movies. I'm not entirely sure why that is, perhaps it's the whole end of the world vibe and being one of the last people alive, battling for survival.
So it was with eagerness that I popped this into the DVD machine. Some sort of unexplained cataclysm has occurred and all the crops have failed, the sun has gone and slowly, everything that once grew has stopped. Amongst the devastation we find The Man and The Boy, a father and son trying to make their way to the coast. Along the way The Man, played by Viggo Mortenson tries to ensure his son learns enough skills to be able to survive in this new and dangerous environment. They brush with some dangerous characters and The Man desperately tries to maintain his dignity and compassion whilst also being hard enough to ensure his son survives. The young actor who plays The Boy is one of the few high points in this movie, in fact he is the only high point. Mortenson just does his usual shtick and the other, supporting characters aren't really fleshed out enough t make you give a toss. There are some excellent shots of a ruined America, with panoramic vistas a specialty.
This movie had been hyped up and I had made the fatal mistake of buying into the hype. I'll state right now that I was disappointed by The Road. Perhaps if I had read the book first then maybe I would have appreciated it a bit more but as it is I found it to be full of relentless symbolism, of sodding great periods where nothing happens and then a few sudden jumps of action sprinkled in here and there.
It's not like this is an awful film but it's just one that leaves you wishing there was more to it. It's the film equivalent of a diet fizzy drink.
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