Critic Reviews
64
Metascore
Generally Favorable
positive
26(79%)
mixed
6(18%)
negative
1(3%)
Showing 33 Critic Reviews
88
While the film is not as resonant as the novel, it is an honorable adaptation, capturing the essence of the bond between father and son.
88
The Road evokes the images and the characters of Cormac McCarthy's novel. It is powerful, but for me lacks the same core of emotional feeling.
88
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.
83
The Road walks a tremendously daring and delicate line between inspiration and horror, and it does so not only in the events it depicts but in its very air and atmosphere. It was unforgettable on the page, and it impresses equally, or at least it does so remarkably often, on screen.
80
It is compellingly enervating and a marvel in the filmmaking process.
80
Intense and, yes, depressing - and earns every minute that it rattles inside your head.
80
And then, Robert Duvall appears—or, should I say, insinuates himself out of the muck. Cagily, his character wends his way into the story, played by the one American actor who might best understand the limits of bluster. “It’s foolish to ask for luxuries in times like these,” he mutters in the Duvall twang, the weather and indignity beaten into him, and The Road suddenly feels major.
80
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.
80
One of the most chillingly effective visions of the world’s end ever put on screen -- and a heart-rending study of parenthood, to boot.
75
This might just be a tad too grueling and bleak for everyone’s liking, but it’s a Road that’s definitely well worth traveling.
