Nov
28
Movie Thoughts: The Road
Posted (Van Santos) in Movie Thoughts on November-28-2009
Movie Thoughts: The Road
Cormac McCarthy is a graphic, and in the minds of some, a disturbing writer.  Want a perfect example? Just look at “No Country For Old Men.” Sure, the Coen brothers added their twists to telling of the story but the movie gives you a baseline understanding of McCarthy’s writing. When McCarthy released “The Road” I found the book to be both mesmerizing and disturbing at the same time; however, when I found out that The Road would be turned into a movie I was concerned of the filmmakers ability to carry over that emotion.
The Road stars Viggo Mortensen and Kodi Smit-McPhee, as well as a smattering of other notable actors that have small roles, who are trying to make their way to survival in a post apocalyptic world. Simply due to the nature of the story there is very little dialog in the movie. Viggo carries the movie when speaking or simply showing his emotion in scenes, which is a great thing as he is on screen almost the entire time. Kodi Smit-McPhee, the actor in the role of the boy, is another story.
Smit-McPhee was mildly annoying to me. During the entire movie I kept thinking to myself what other actor could have filled the role.  Be it the way he was talking or crying, I just kept thinking how his performance was taking away from the viewing experience. It was almost as if Viggo was so good in his role any “not ready for prime time” actor sharing the screen ended up looking, well, like an amateur.
Robert Duvall has a small part within the movie as the Old Man. During a short exchange between the two Viggo and Robert, Duvall simply shines and shows why his is one of the greatest actors ever to grace the screen. It is unfortunate the story did not have more for Duvall to show his abilities.
The movie managed to create a world torn apart by some unknown event, and did so with minimal CGI. There were moments when I thought to myself this is what I would expect a post-apocalyptic world to be like. The problem I had with the movie version of The Road was exactly what I feared – the emotion and tension of the book did not translate to the film. It almost felt as if the essence of the story was sucked out and the viewer was left with an empty shell.
Viggo Mortensen was truly outstanding, and the 5 minutes that Robert Duvall was on screen was a pleasure, but overall the movie was just lacking.
Not a horrific film, by any means, it was simply disappointing.

Cormac McCarthy is a graphic, and in the minds of some, a disturbing writer.  Want a perfect example? Just look at “No Country For Old Men.” Sure, the Coen brothers added their twists to telling of the story but the movie gives you a baseline understanding of McCarthy’s writing. When McCarthy released “The Road” I found the book to be both mesmerizing and disturbing at the same time; however, when I found out that The Road would be turned into a movie I was concerned of the filmmakers ability to carry over that emotion.

The Road stars Viggo Mortensen and Kodi Smit-McPhee, as well as a smattering of other notable actors that have small roles, who are trying to make their way to survival in a post apocalyptic world. Simply due to the nature of the story there is very little dialog in the movie. Viggo carries the movie when speaking or simply showing his emotion in scenes, which is a great thing as he is on screen almost the entire time. Kodi Smit-McPhee, the actor in the role of the boy, is another story.

Smit-McPhee was mildly annoying to me. During the entire movie I kept thinking to myself what other actor could have filled the role.  Be it the way he was talking or crying, I just kept thinking how his performance was taking away from the viewing experience. It was almost as if Viggo was so good in his role any “not ready for prime time” actor sharing the screen ended up looking, well, like an amateur.

Robert Duvall has a small part within the movie as the Old Man. During a short exchange between the two Viggo and Robert, Duvall simply shines and shows why his is one of the greatest actors ever to grace the screen. It is unfortunate the story did not have more for Duvall to show his abilities.

The movie managed to create a world torn apart by some unknown event, and did so with minimal CGI. There were moments when I thought to myself this is what I would expect a post-apocalyptic world to be like. The problem I had with the movie version of The Road was exactly what I feared – the emotion and tension of the book did not translate to the film. It almost felt as if the essence of the story was sucked out and the viewer was left with an empty shell.

Viggo Mortensen was truly outstanding, and the 5 minutes that Robert Duvall was on screen was a pleasure, but overall the movie was just lacking.

Not a horrific film, by any means, it was simply disappointing.

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