The Road (2009)

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Thank God I never read the novel as from what I've heard it's more doom & gloom than the movie, so my review is for this film. After what appears to have been a nuclear event the world has been destroyed , left dark as the sun has been blacked out from whatever happened , the world is cold and all vegetation been wiped, earthquakes and thunder storms are every day occurrences.The story starts some 10/11 years after this disaster with a Father & son constantly moving to go South, why this need is even in the story is beyond me. They eat only a mere morsel of a dead insect daily.Through the dreams of the Dad we see some of what had happened , one memory being his wife giving birth to their son, which happened some months after the world changed. So considering all the events mentioned , how did a baby being born in this world survive and grow to an almost healthy looking child? The Mother of the child just wants to die , she can't cope and just walks away from her family some short time before the story for us starts. It is her who had deemed that going South is the place to be, maybe that is the pun of it all.Through the constant tedious rotation of getting from A to B for no other reason but to make a story , there is the threat of the other humans, this is always the threat , be it a zombie , plague or nuclear, there has to be the evil survivors, in this they are cannibals. If taking this as a realistic "story" and the good people have been living like our two protagonists, eating insects and drinking boiled but very polluted water without sieving it, nobody could survive less than 6 months let alone 10 years and the cannibals wouldn't be getting any nourishment either, because they would be eating diseased flesh, caused by malnutrition which also would have dysentery complications and other factors that would be there.During one of their long journeys which also would be impossible due to lack of energy, they find a door in the ground that has been overlooked for over a decade, climbing down into it they discover a type of fallout shelter, full of canned foods, beds, clean clothes & linen , it also has clean running water and full bathroom facilities. They fill their stomachs and amazingly never vomit, they bathe and sleep. This is where this story should have ended, but no, a few footsteps above them on the covered door spooks them so they need to move once more.This story is ridiculous, boring and an unending search for something at the end of an never ending road of rinse and repeat.

John Hillcoat, with the help of his producer Joe Penhall, has executed a very well crafted depiction of the post apocalyptic world as told in the 2009 film The Road which was based on the novel, The Road written by Cormac McCarthy, published in 2007. The father, played by Viggo Mortenson, started off in this post apocalyptic world with the help of his wife, played by Charlize Theron who later birthed their son, played by Kodi Smit-McPhee, in the dark of the ashes. While his wife could no longer continue, the man and the boy carried on throughout the depths of the dark world on the road which would lead them to somewhere that only they would be able to discover. Together they faced not only the bad, but the good as well. The creators will take you on a wild ride of emotions as you read the book and watch the movie. The book was good, but the movie was even better. The costumes and makeup truly made the movie. While reading the book, it is hard to tell what they look like as the descriptions aren't as good as the real life thing. The makeup and outfits were absolutely disgusting, in the best way possible. From the father covered in dirt and torn clothing just like the son. The son also wore a wool hat for the entire film that his mom had worn before she left. If they hadn't looked the way they did, it would just look like a rainy day walk. Had John Hillcoat not executed his use of lighting and color, there would be a struggle to decipher what parts of the film are flashback and what parts are current times. He made it so that if it was in the past, the film was seen in color, but if it was during the post apocalyptic time, it was strictly in black and white. Using this technique also helped highlight the man's flashbacks to the simple times with his wife before the apocalypse as written in the book. To any future watchers of The Road, I would highly recommend watching this movie, as it has totally shown me what a well made movie looks like. From the costumes to the tone of lighting, I have greatly appreciated the production of this movie.

Although this movie has a lot of star studded actors in it, the movie is not very good. This movie is based on the book and follows it pretty well and follows the book most of the time. However, they do stick with things from the movie that don't fit well in the movie. For example, in the book, the dialogue is choppy and is somewhat acceptable in the book. However, when seen by two person having an actual conversation, it disrupts the entire flow of the movie and takes away from the actual movie. Also, in the book, there is a major emphasis about the cannibalism and is one of the main points in the book. However, in the movie there is one scene about true cannibalism and it doesn't last long. I would like the part about cannibalism to be longer as it would more action and gives the movie a new and interesting story line. Also the setting in the book is that the entire sky is gray and the sun is covered. Therefore, all life is gone and there is no food available. The book also describes as towns being destroyed and completely being destroyed. However, in the movies the scenes have the appearance of being just used. The buildings don't have the appearance of being destroyed but just used and doesn't give the appearance of being destroyed. Overall this move was very disappointing compared to the book and I was very disappointed. I would give this a 6/10 and that is being generous.

The Road was literally one of the worst movies I ever saw. It's very dark and depressing and I couldnt enjoy watching it.The end was strange and meaningless.