The Road

Adapted from the novel by Cormac McCarthy, The Road stars Viggo Mortensen as an unnamed man who travels a post-apocalyptic wasteland with his son (Kodi Smit-McPhee) after his wife (Charlize Theron) meets her end.  Robert Duvall and Guy Pearce also make appearances.

There's not much to the plot.  The world has suffered some unnamed disaster and the few people left are either struggling refugees, wandering from place to place in search of food and shelter, or gangs of rednecks cannibals who seem to possess most of resources while steadily declining the number of refugees.  The man and his son have a vague quest to make it to "the coast."

This is not a happy movie, at all.  There are one or two scenes that could fall under that category, but just barely.  Hardly a scene goes by when the young boy is not reminded by his father of the proper way to commit suicide with the ever present gun should he be left alone or cannibals acquire them.  The sun is blocked, apparently by the ash that also litters the ground, and the world is cold and dreary.  Animal life is almost non-existent, and plants have nearly all died.  It's really a desolate place and a desolate film.

The ending is bittersweet, but it is one of the few part of the film that lets any inkling of any kind of hope slip through the cracks.  Overall the film is quite tedious, but not necessarily boring.  It is tedious because the world which it portrays is tedious.  Though it probably works better as a book, Mortensen and McPhee are superb, never breaking from character.  You feel like you are on this hopeless journey with them, which makes you sad.

If you want a well done downer with some intellect, this is the one for you.

*** (3/5 stars)