Okay. To begin with, this movie is beautifully shot, staged and directed. Secondly, it features some great performances from MOST of the actors. Thirdly, the idea in writing intrigued me enough to watch this film. Now that that's out of the way, I'll explain my not-so good rating...
The Road is about the journey taken by a father and his son, who are heading south towards the sea after the fallout of an undisclosed "event". This journey obviously proves to be somewhat perilous, but this peril is dampened quite significantly by the father's blind tendency to overlook the fact that his son is a sappy, whiny, annoying brat that needs a significant amount of toughening up, in order to survive the ordeals of life in the bleak wilderness that is the landscape of The Road. At one point the father even admits he's trying to pass on this very knowledge, but he never teaches this to his brat, and the brat is constantly crying, whimpering and wanting to make friends with every grimy individual that pops up that doesn't want to eat them, being that foods in short supply!
This pretty much sums up the majority of this movie, which has few flickers of light to provide a balance that I felt was lacking from The Road, resulting in a thoroughly depressing movie which made me cheer towards the end (yes, at the sad bit - the kid deserved it!). And this, just before a convenient "family" moment which seemed rather out of place. Considering the boy's father had been ramming home the message not to trust just anyone, this was just ridiculous!
So, to sum up, I would give The Road a chance. Watch it,take in the lovely cinematography, the fine direction and excellent performances from everyone but the brat and decide for yourself. Just don't watch it if you suffer from depression. Or you're having a bad day. Or if you like nice Hollywood endings. The Road seems to try and aim for this, ultimately, but after all the warnings imparted within, I found it rather hard to swallow!
The Road is about the journey taken by a father and his son, who are heading south towards the sea after the fallout of an undisclosed "event". This journey obviously proves to be somewhat perilous, but this peril is dampened quite significantly by the father's blind tendency to overlook the fact that his son is a sappy, whiny, annoying brat that needs a significant amount of toughening up, in order to survive the ordeals of life in the bleak wilderness that is the landscape of The Road. At one point the father even admits he's trying to pass on this very knowledge, but he never teaches this to his brat, and the brat is constantly crying, whimpering and wanting to make friends with every grimy individual that pops up that doesn't want to eat them, being that foods in short supply!
This pretty much sums up the majority of this movie, which has few flickers of light to provide a balance that I felt was lacking from The Road, resulting in a thoroughly depressing movie which made me cheer towards the end (yes, at the sad bit - the kid deserved it!). And this, just before a convenient "family" moment which seemed rather out of place. Considering the boy's father had been ramming home the message not to trust just anyone, this was just ridiculous!
So, to sum up, I would give The Road a chance. Watch it,take in the lovely cinematography, the fine direction and excellent performances from everyone but the brat and decide for yourself. Just don't watch it if you suffer from depression. Or you're having a bad day. Or if you like nice Hollywood endings. The Road seems to try and aim for this, ultimately, but after all the warnings imparted within, I found it rather hard to swallow!
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