Film

What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases

The Road (2009)

Director: John Hillcoat

Time Out rating

Average user rating

101 reviews

Movie review

From Time Out London

When Cormac McCarthy’s brutal saga of post-apocalyptic angst won the Pulitzer Prize in 2007, a big screen adaptation became inevitable. Whether or not this was a good idea seemed irrelevant: it was a bestselling book with a timely, inherently cinematic theme; the movie had to be made.

‘The Proposition’ director John Hillcoat’s film is as direct and unflinching an adaptation as one could reasonably hope for. A man (Viggo Mortensen) and a boy (Kodi Smit-McPhee) wander the American wasteland after an unnamed ecological disaster. The trees are bare, the animals dead, the few human survivors starving, desperate, often violent, occasionally monstrous.‘The Road’ is certainly the bleakest and potentially the least commercial product in recent Hollywood history. Both book and movie suffer from the same inherent weakness – they exist purely to make you miserable. Sure, there’s a smattering of subtext – a little eco-politics here, a spot of family psychology there – but the central purpose is to break your heart and shatter your soul.

On which level, Hillcoat’s movie is a resounding triumph. Stunning landscape photography sets the melancholy mood, and Nick Cave’s wrenching score reinforces it. But it is the performances that ultimately hold the film together. We expect this kind of selfless professionalism from Mortensen, and McPhee is appropriately sad-eyed as his long-suffering son, but it’s the incidental characters who steal the show, notably Robert Duvall in a startling cameo which not only distils the film’s key themes into a single three-minute scene, but singlehandedly lifts a potentially drab affair into something quietly impressive. Just don’t expect to walk out smiling.

Author: Tom Huddleston

Time Out London Issue 2055: Jan 5-13, 2010

Email Tweet Share

User reviews of this film

Observer said...

Posted on Dec 16 2011 12:11 Why the big commotion about the thief being caught and stripped of his belongings? As the father said, "I'm leaving you exactly as you left us" (with nothing).
There are glimmers of hope in the film. The family at the end. The green bugs near the coast (so there is life out there besides the remaining humans). For those that like it all laid on the table - tough - you'll have to fill in the gaps. We don't need to know why or how the apocalypse happened. The characters probably don't know, so why should we?
It just occurred to me that the family that was following them all along were heard above the shelter. I remember the child saying he heard a dog. Perhaps they had survived so well because that was their hideout, or at least they had taken some of the food. If one was aware of an impending catastrophic event, wouldn't you stock up a bomb-proof hideout in your garden?
I liked the film. Bleak, slow but thought provoking, which is how it intends to be. I can't help but think those rating the film poorly missed the point.

Report as inappropriate
DW123 said...

Posted on Jun 27 2011 22:35 However 'well' written, acted, directed, produced, this film is, frankly, sick. It sets out to revolt and disgust, which it succeeds in doing. You'd get more pleasure from 113 minutes in a public toilet.

Report as inappropriate
Leonardo Storti said...

Posted on Jun 02 2011 10:04 Well, I can understand the frusteration of many people about this movie, I however loved it but it would have been at least nice to at least give us a hint on what happened, it's not like it would change the story anyway. It's still meant of survival, all I'm asking is what happened, I guess I can use my imagination must be what the director intended, but honestly, that's boring, I rather just be told what happenend but don't get me wrong, using your imaginatio to fill in the gap of info is a great idea...still in my oppinion I would have liked an explanation but oh well, the movie still delivers it's intention, survival....

Report as inappropriate
Steve said...

Posted on Apr 11 2011 01:52 This was a gripping film but could have done with some improvement ( the unbelievable child who seems to have forgotten that this is all he has known) but i think the acting of the main (Viggo Mortensen) is done amazingly and the paranoia of a world where he can trust no one comes across. worth a watch but you properly wouldn't need to watch it all the way through to enjoy it.

Report as inappropriate
Ash Lister said...

Posted on Feb 03 2011 14:36 Hahahaha stuart wright likes sheep!

Report as inappropriate
mark said...

Posted on Dec 24 2010 02:08 PS under "normal" circumstances parents abandon kids all the time or kill them for little or no reason ... and if you really think ur child is going to be torchured what would you really do to save them? And if you could not, would you save them from that misery by humanly killing them? ie we put pets "down" to save them from normal misery

Report as inappropriate
mark said...

Posted on Dec 24 2010 01:57 To all who keep bringing up what happened to the earth... you can't fill in the blanks for yourself? would knowing what the film maker thought make the film better? use your imagination, I am sure you could think of 5 reasons off the top of your head.
and take away all the fictional elements and its really just a story about survival in the real world, where people will take advantage of you.... maybe they will not eat you, but they will take your money without a thought and you will suffer for it. Just think of any big news story... oil in the gulf, schools that dont work, financial meltdown, mortgage problems... in this world somebody survives and somebody loses and possibly dies...
those who hate it probably have no children.... cause what do you tell children now a days so they survive and thrive in a world gone crazy

Report as inappropriate
Thomas Noctor said...

Posted on Dec 17 2010 22:48 Boring aint the word! Stripping an old man? Teaching your son to commit suicide? A 'mother' leaving her son? Only 1 good scene, when they discover the bodies in the cellar, I thought 'oh good, a chase, suspense, here we go at last'? No just kept up on the walking eating sleeping route. This film is not art, but a boring mess! If you like a good tense atmospheric movie, then avoid this at all costs!

Report as inappropriate
Idletime said...

Posted on Dec 17 2010 08:37 I have to add my 2 cents.
The dog at the end survived, because the family the boy meets represents a sort of civility and possibly a return to a normal pre-disaster way of life-- at least in their minds. While everyone else was eating their pets, this family chose to take a "path of good". Also, the dog might be new to the group as well, and, when he arrived, the family was no longer in a
tribal community (as implied by the father's missing
thumb).
Anyway... The whole movie is about the kid showing compassion and mercy to others-- regardless. From what others have said, this is an interpretation of a biblical story in which God helps the boy.
I don't know for sure, but it makes sense.

Report as inappropriate
Jessica Tennant said...

Posted on Nov 24 2010 14:48 the road was extrmely depressing. i didn't understand hardly any of it. i didn't see why there was loads of food down the drain which was deserted. also why did they take clothes off the man in the middle of the street. i also didn't like the film because you don't get to know the names of the characters. also it doesn't explain what the film's about which makes it confusing. come on, who would actually keep there dog if they are starving,? obviously you would kill the dog to eat it if they are starving. it was one of the worst films i have ever seen to be honest..

Report as inappropriate
you will never know??? said...

Posted on Nov 24 2010 14:48 yeah boi j elsey is my teacher oh yeah ashley lister is gay

Report as inappropriate
britney spears said...

Posted on Nov 24 2010 14:47 this is my english teacher and she cant even spell

Report as inappropriate
anonymous said...

Posted on Nov 24 2010 14:47 Ashley Lister is GAY.. ;)

Report as inappropriate
j elsey said...

Posted on Nov 23 2010 15:40 I can sympathise with those reviewers who found the film depressing but is it over-sentimental? Also the ending was an issue. Some people have argued that it is highly unlikely that a starving family would still have a dog - however i ask you. could you eat your pet dog, and if a canibal tried to eat your pet dog would you not fight tooth and nail to save it? Additionally I don't feel the need to know what has happened to the world - if the film explained this it could become one of those scince-fiction type films like the day after tomorrow. There are loads of films like ththat which focus on big budget action sequences and it is quiet refreshing anf thought provoking to have a film that focuses on the human sie of the situationation by looking at the relationship betwen a man and is son.

Report as inappropriate
blib said...

Posted on Sep 29 2010 07:45 The minute you said "I know films as i'm doing video production" you started talking out of your backside. I play football but i'm not Ronaldo. Superb film, probably a bit deep for the Toy Story brigade on here (F.1.00008 Take note)-

Report as inappropriate