The Road – 2009
What IMDB Said About This Movie:
From Cormac McCarthy, author of No Country For Old Men, comes the highly anticipated big screen adaptation of the beloved, best-selling and Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, THE ROAD. Academy Award-nominee Viggo Mortensen leads an all-star cast featuring Charlize Theron, Robert Duvall, Guy Pearce and newcomer Kodi Smit-McPhee in this epic post-apocalyptic tale of the survival of a father (Mortensen) and his young son (Smit-McPhee) as they journey across a barren America that was destroyed by a mysterious cataclysm. A masterpiece adventure, THE ROAD boldly imagines a future in which men are pushed to the worst and the best that they are capable of – a future in which a father and his son are sustained by love.
A father and his son walk alone through burned America. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind and water. It is cold enough to crack stones, and, when the snow falls it is gray. The sky is dark. Their destination is the warmer south, although they don’t know what, if anything, awaits them there. They have nothing: just a pistol to defend themselves against the lawless cannibalistic bands that stalk the road, the clothes they are wearing, a rusting shopping cart of scavenged food–and each other. Written by Sean Pollock
A Father (Viggo Mortensen) and his son (Kodi Smit-McPhee), find themselves on a long journey south of their home after they find themselves without food or fresh water. With short flashbacks embedded in this movie each time the Father settles down to sleep, we believe this to be the foundations of the entire film and so gives the characters the strength and ability on which to portray their characters. In all it was very much like witnessing the future survival of one through the hardest of times after a nuclear war, something which may also be in its own class making. With Old Man Eli (Robert Duvall), The Veteran (Guy Pearce) and the Mother of the boy (Charlize Theron), what starts out to be something [we believe] along the lines of “Mad Max” or “Threads”, actually comes over as an Apocalyptic-Drama. A bloody good Drama, at that.
DVD Archive Rating: 8/10 :
This film is worth a look, though in some scenes it does go on a little longer than it should for a simple scene, action sequence or time-lapse moment. We found it interesting, very unfamiliar as to what direction the characters were going to throw you in next, and at the best of times, we sat through the entire film.
***WARNING-SPOILER***
Full synopsis:
The world is in ruins after some apocalyptic event. A father and his son are walking towards the coast in an attempt to head south to escape the increasingly cold, endless winter. Along the way they have to avoid gangs forced into cannibalism. Their only weapon is a pistol with 2 shots. The father has dreams about his wife, who committed suicide before the story begins. At one point they find an intact bomb shelter filled with food and supplies. Rather than remain in this sanctuary, they continue on because they have not yet reached the coast. The only named character they encounter in the entire book is an old man who says his name is Ely. Ely is harmless and alone and they share a meal and talk for a bit. They find out Ely is not his real name and he created this false name in order to keep from being found by other refugees. They eventually part ways. The whole journey is a struggle to survive in a world no longer capable of sustaining life. They almost lose this struggle when a thief makes off with all their worldly possessions, and the Father nearly loses his struggle to hold on to his humanity in taking those possessions back. The boy is all that keeps him barely human. The boy is his warrant, in his own words. In the end, they reach the coast but find it is no different, no better than the place they left behind. The father finally succumbs to the illness that has plagued him from the beginning, dying and leaving the boy alone. But he is not alone for long before another finds him, another man holding on to his humanity — only he’s been a little more successful because he had help. Now the boy has a family.
The Road HD Trailer:
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