The Road

In this haunting portrait of America as no country for old men or young, Hillcoat -- through the artistry of Mortensen and Smit-McPhee -- carries the fire of our shared humanity and lets it burn bright and true.

Between the two performances there's not a false note. Between the father and son there's an unbreakable bond. Though civilization has ended, love and parental duty shape the course of this fable, which is otherwise as heartwarming as a Beckett play shorn of humor.

The Road isn't a masterpiece...But I cannot think of another film this year that has stayed with me, its images of dread and fear - and yes, perhaps hope - kicking around like such a terrible dream.

Portrayed ad infinitum in sci-fi and fantasy, the postapocalypse may now seem about as scary as Post Raisin Bran, but Hillcoat gives it an unnerving solidity by focusing on the drab details of survival and linking them to the more hellish aspects of modern American life.

There's enough foreboding in America right now to make sitting through a movie such as The Road seem like one more heavy burden that, frankly, no one needs.

Doesn't offer plot or an inquiry into the evil in men's hearts. It simply wallows in the filth and inhumanity that surround a father and his pre-adolescent son as they march across the shattered remains of this country.

Pale by comparison to an action thriller like "Children of Men" or gross out eco-catastrophe like "Land of the Dead," squandering its ready-made zombie scenario.

Defintely worth watching, not as brutal as mad max, which i was relieved of, yet pretty gripping, poignant, i felt a very real terror throughout the whole movie, absolutely real experience, i literally yelled "shut up" at the boy in one of the scenes.

The films nails the grim tone of the apocalypse and dire feeling of every encounter a father and his son would experience in those kinds of times. The filming and production work are also masterful as every shot makes you feel like you're watching some devasted portion of the planet. The film even carries a worthwhile tense feeling whenever anything living comes on to screen that isn't the main characters and that's awesome. What isn't awesome is the point of the film. Without spoiling it, there seems to be little point to the film other than the survival tale of a boy and his father. There's no focused narrative - no meaning. I can live with that if there's enough content that is experienced along the way that makes the film engaging and entertaining but while there's moments that meet that criteria the film as a whole just left me asking the question "why did this movie get made like this"? It's not a waste of a watch, I just doubt I'll watch it again. I'm disappointed because I enjoy this genre more often than not yet The Road never does enough to draw me in and keep me in. Side note: the audio mixing isn't great. Often the background noises are as loud as the dialogue, or louder, which left me having to focus on the dialogue a lot harder than I typically do. What's with that? I say that with my center channel speaker maxed out with my surround sound system at 60% volume so it's not like I was trying to keep the volume down. Odd miss by the studio that put this out.

While it did have an interesting plot to begin with and great acting performances, the movie was very cliché, predictable and it wasn't entertaining or interesting enough to keep the viewer interested till the end. Overall, it's not a bad movie, it's just not a particularly good one.

From the writer of No Country For Old Men, comes yet another tale about the end of the world. From the previews, I thought this movie had promise, that it would be different from other post-apocalyptic stories, but it wasn't. It's the tale of a father and son wondering aimlessly just trying to survive. Nothing is at all explained, there are weird flashbacks, and there are way too many interactions with people. Most of the world is gone, not a single animal survived, yet everywhere you go, you run into people, crazy people, most of whom are cannibals. Viggo Mortensen does give a pretty solid performance, however Kodi Smit-McPhee does not. I've never seen him in anything before, but the whole movie, he's hiding, whining, and screaming papa, it got really annoying! It was awful, I felt like they kept acting out the same scene over and over again in a different location. Nothing happens, there's no plot, and the dialogue is just stupid. This movie is a huge waste of time.

This movie made me suffer, a lot! If this is what the post-apocalyptic world looks like then release me out of my misery a.s.a.p. I couldn't even survive the few hours this movie lasted, let alone a lifetime. This was pure torture, it gave you glimpses and teases of something was going to happen but it never did. The worst part is everything looks and sounds so promising, you actually want to give this movie a chance. You want it to be good and give you that satisfaction. But it doesn't. This movie is the ultimate teaser!