The Road is an incredibly depressing, but great looking movie, bros. There are a few individual scenes that are amazing, but it doesn’t quite come together as a whole. I don’t think you’ll be sorry you went to go see though, unless you’re looking not to need a hug by the final reel. (Spoilers ahead.)
Basic plot, told through the story and flashback, Viggo and his son are trying to make their way to the coast of the United States after it’s been destroyed by some vague disaster. Plants and animals have been almost wiped out, along with humans, and it’s a daily struggle just to survive. Many of the scenes are about tough decisions, like would you rather live only to be eaten by cannibals later or should you and your family kill yourselves. (Yeah, it’s THAT uplifting.)
The scenery is incredibly bleak, but the weakness of the movie is the vagueness of everything. Where exactly are these two walking? What happened during the disaster? Was a meteor? Nuclear war? Earthquake? Super Volcano? Plus, the time frame is really vague. You can only measure it by the age of the boy and it’s difficult to discern the actor’s age or the age he’s meant to be playing.
You might say these are all unimportant details that don’t matter to the story, since it’s really about survival in a harsh new world. But the ending is really like, WTF, man! I won’t give it away, but it kind of undermines the third act. Plus Charlize Theron, as the mom, kind of gets annoying the flashbacks for reasons I also won’t go into because it gives away an important plot point.
One thing is for sure, don’t mess with Viggo in a movie. He’ll fuckin’ kill you. He only racks up two bodies in this one, sadly. The movie is just bleak. Take your emo buddies, but don’t let them bring any sharp objects with them.
I give The Road 6 out of 10 keggers. Worth seeing on the screen for the panoramic views of desolation, but otherwise will probably be a better rental when you’re in the mood to really see some messed up scenes of cannibals. (Not messed up in like Hostel, per se, more messed up in the Concentration Camp scene from a Nazi movie sense.) Make sure you see it with someone that can hug you afterwards.
