The Road

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Maani H Scary film which makes you apprehensive one of the possible routes mankind might end up walking in future. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 11/16/24 Full Review Kyle C Alright, look. I’m gonna try real hard not to judge this movie against the original novel. I will probably compare them, but I’ll try not to let it sway my judgment of the movie as its own entity. And I will definitely fail, but here goes. This is a great movie. It absolutely nails the aesthetic from the book while maintaining its groundedness and relatability. It maybe leans a little too heavily into the action and suspense scenes for my taste, but it’s Hollywood; I get it. It also does a good job of capturing the dryness of the novel while adding a bit more drama, again, for Hollywood. Viggo Mortensen is at the top of his game, as usual. He gives the performance of a lifetime, and the little kid is pretty good too. The minimal handful of other cast play their parts well. Wisely, the script is mostly taken straight from the novel and just trimmed down a bit. One thing I personally didn’t like was the small glimmers of a hopeful future which are sprinkled throughout. That sounds terrible to say. But in my opinion, the whole point of the story is that there is no hope. Absolutely none. And we spend roughly two hours exploring what humanity would do when faced with this reality. To drop hints that maybe everything will be fine feels disingenuous and incongruous. For me, the selling points of this movie are its mood and soundtrack, which lends a lovely, eerie quality while being barely noticeable. For fans of the novel, you’ll love the adaptation. If you’re new to the source material, you’ll probably still love it. Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 11/14/24 Full Review Michael D It’s good but seeing it in 2024 eyes a little bland and melodramatic. Last of Us and a dozen other modern takes have a lot more going for them, just watch those. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 10/17/24 Full Review Faiz D A beautifully shot film with a haunting, disturbing story. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 08/29/24 Full Review Adrian A All in all, the film is worth your time if you're looking for some good old post-apocalypse misery, or if you're a fan of the book and want a chance to relive the story to an extent. For those familiar with McCarthy's work, this adaptation will seem a bit saccharine. Where once the hollow landscape was painted by McCarthy's hauntingly sparse prose, every scene in the film is punctuated by sad little arpeggios plinked away on a piano, or a tense scene is blanketed with dissonant strings. I craved the honest bleakness of the book, but felt the filmmaker's hand trying to guide my emotions at every turn. Now, all that said, the performances are spot on here, as are the landscapes. The events of the book are rearranged, for reasons I am unsure of, as it did not seem to enhance the story. But it is, at least, comprised of almost entirely out of the events of the book. It is a faithful, if somewhat standard adaptation, taking the book at face value and presenting it on the screen with a simple earnestness. At least it never tries to shy away from the striking imagery McCarthy presented. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 08/11/24 Full Review Jonathan H This must be one of the hardest movies to rate. It is well done, no doubt, with its desaturated look, quiet, disturbing mood, dystopian settings and strong acting from the two main characters. There isn't a lot of backstory to build off here, so we are left with many unanswered questions and confusion throughout the story. And if you are looking for hope, you really don't find any here. It is extremely depressing and disturbing, as we watch the humanity drained from every character until they shrivel up, literally and metaphorically. Perhaps this is some kind of analogy for the world or for our country... who knows? Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 06/17/24 Full Review Read all reviews

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