The Road

I knew that this film was adapted from the novel by Cormac McCarthy, so was expecting it to be bleak and desolate as he also wrote 'No Country for Old Men'. It's the story of a post-apocolyptic world, you never know what happened, but everything is either dead or dying, including all the plants and animals. A Father (the imperial Viggo Mortensen) and his son, Kodi Smit-McPhee, a wonderful natural and likeable young Australian actor journey to get to the coast, where they hope to find a better life. It's a dream that keeps them both surviving. Some of the events they have to survive are blood curdling and horrific, gangs of subhuman cannibals dwelling in these amazingly beautiful old American houses making the debauchary even worse somehow. You will need a strong stomach for some scenes. Charlize Theron plays the wife/mother in flashback form which she plays beautifully, a woman possessed by maternal instinct and loss of hope and humanity. No one is given any names. There are a couple of cameos, I won't tell you who they are because they are almost unrecognisable and it's quite a shock when you realise who they are! Along the way, they meet people, some to trust, some not. Most are just trying to get through a day at a time. It has some extremely poignant rewarding moments, the Father showing his son things that we all take for granted, and his wonder at them all. The film really makes you work for your rewards, however. It's incredibly painful to watch and at times it gets all a bit bleak and hopeless. It's such a beautiful portrayal of a Father's love for his son, he will literally do anything, without hesitation, for the betterment of his beloved child, and it's heartbreaking. It's very confronting seeing the decaying world, the scenery is spectacular. No actor can be faulted for their performance. The real shame of this beautifully crafted film is that it's so well thought out, and so well crafted, but the ending really lets it down. I remember feeling a little like that at the end of 'No Country for Old Men', it's as if the author suddenly thought, "I've had enough of this" and just wraps it up neatly when it doesn't even make sense. I felt really double crossed I have to say. Still, it's very much a film worth watching as long as you're not having too bad a day to begin with. With a little bit more care, it would have been a classic. THE ROAD: It's long and winding, with a dead end. 6/10