The Road

A post apocalyptic movie of the highest quality drenched in the murkiest atmosphere and wrapped in the darkness of grey fumes evaporating from a dying planet. We don’t know why exactly, but that doesn’t matter. What matters is survival. To eat and not get eaten. Viggo Mortensen is at his best and his little side-kick Kodi Smith-McPhee plays a great supporting role. These two under the firm direction of John Hillcoat push the dolly forward at a slow and contemplative tempo towards an ending which is not exactly impressive, but fairly logical. And that’s about it. (03/19/2010)

Hillcoat certainly didn't do badly here and in fact, I can't imagine if McCarthy’s book could have been adapted more faithfully. However, like the Coen brothers, the film is brought down by the poor rewrite that simplified some passages for the film medium, and cut others, and yet added nothing of its own. I appreciate the austere work with images, which doesn't push the viewer into the popular post-apocalyptic depression, but rather strums on grimly sad strings, like the musician Nick Cave. Regardless, I’m glad Hillcoat had the balls to film it the way he did. On the other hand, the aftertaste of uselessness cannot be repelled, at least in my case. Seven thumbs up out of ten. I think I'll go to the movies. I’m afraid of Blood Meridian. (01/24/2010)

The most catastrophic commercial for Coca-Cola. McCarthy’s The Road stands on atmosphere, and so it was extremely important that no one scene should stick out, like in the book, so that a month later you have no memory of anything specific that happened, only of the atmosphere of cruel despair, ruin; a world where trusting your nearest and dearest is a synonym for criminal naivety. A memory of the atmosphere that gets under your skin, an atmosphere that will stay with you long after you leave the movie theatre. All it takes is somebody coughing on the bus, the sight of a discarded beer can and there you are again - up to your ears in depression. I don’t want to pretend that this is flawless. It isn’t. I could find quite a lot of things to criticize here, but everything fades in the shade of THAT atmosphere and the very end, where you find out straight away who has what perspective of the world (you know: is the glass half-full or half empty?). That dulls the edges of any of its negative aspects. Mainly that it’s fragmentary and everything else that the book suffers from. Yes, you heard me right, although I really like The Road, I don’t rate it among McCarthy’s top works. It isn’t even his most atmospheric works. P.S.: But this is one of those pointless adaptations. It’s an illustration, one to one scale, nothing more. I really had expected the director to cut deeper and defy the “canon" of the book, while still remaining faithful to it. Here, everything is down to the book, and nothing comes “out of Hillcoat". That’s why I give it four. (01/15/2010)

Uncompromising with every step, a film that doesn't hold back and can be quite a solid punch for the viewer. Mortensen is very believable and the production design is excellent. A bit slow-paced and, for my taste, lacking in plot twists, but still satisfying. Some scenes are very chilling. (06/26/2010)

The Road is a melancholic, beautiful movie involving a slowly and sensitively narrated story of two defenseless characters traveling in a world without humanity. It is a world in which I didn’t want to leave them alone and wanted to protect them. Viggo Mortensen is great and Robert Duvall is phenomenal. The film offers one hellishly chilling scene and a nice, ubiquitous piano motif. So far, The Road is the second candidate (after Shutter Island) for my top 10 movies of this year. (05/02/2010)