The Road

It’s probably just me, but I have a huge man-crush on Viggo Mortenson. He’s stoic and unrelenting. And probably above all else, an extraordinary actor. Every character he plays he seems to excel at. He goes above and beyond. From THE LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy, to EASTERN PROMISES, to A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE. I guess I should do some research and find a film where he doesn’t work well. It might be some time before I come across that film however. I unfortunately had to watch this film on a small computer screen, but it was worth it. Granted, it would have been better on my watch LED TV, but I took what I could get. The Bose headphones did increase the sound quality though. Alright, let’s talk about the film.

The Road - Watch Trailer Here

It’s a desolate world now, from nuclear-holocaust, or world war, we are never given the reason for the condition of the world, which is fine. We don’t need/care to know. We’re immersed in this new world where Viggo and his young son are walking about in search of food and shelter. Along the way they encounter other people who have survived in this world. One particular group is out for blood.

The look of this film can be summarized very easily – saturated, dreary, and grey. And I love it! It really adds to the ambience of the film. Some of the CGed cityscapes are a letdown and for me didn’t need to be included. It took me out of the realism of the film. They really could’ve done without them. The soundtrack worked very well too. Very subtle, but carried the tone of the film very well. And during the few moments when it really needed to pick up, it did so, seamlessly.

We’ve seen Viggo play this character before in A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE – the loving father that would do anything in his power to protect his child/family from the antagonists. And again, it hits home with us. We’re on his side and anything he does in the name of protecting his child is OK’ed by us. There are constant flashbacks to Viggo talking with his wife who is played by Charlize Theron. During these flashbacks we see the world just before whatever happened, happened. His wife takes off and leaves him. The rationale for this is shaky, but it gives the audience more reason to be emotionally attached to Viggo.

One of the most powerful scenes is the first time we meet “the others” and Viggo has to stand-up for his and his son’s life. Very powerful. And of course the final scene on the beach tugs directly on the heart strings of the audience. I won’t give it away, but I’ll say that it is moving. Anything dealing with children seems to always increase the level of intensity, because they are innocent and they shouldn’t have to deal with these kinds of situations.

Is it a popcorn movie? Probably not, but for me this did a better job as an end-of-the-world piece than films like THE WAR OF THE WORLDS (remake), THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW, etc. Probably the reason I liked it better is that it focused more on a solid story and characters, instead of the event of how the world ending. Kind of like: the journey was better than the final destination? Some other great end-of-the-world films to check out are: THE OMEGA MAN (I AM LEGEND is based off this film), DR. STRANGELOVE: OR HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE THE BOMB, SUNSHINE, RED DAWN, THE ROAD WARRIOR, and TWELVE MONKEYS.

Rating: 9/10