No Country Left for Old Man and Young Boy

The Road

*** out of ****

Directed by: John Hillcoat

Starring: Viggo Mortensen, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Charlize Theron and Robert Duvall

Running Time: 114 minutes

Due to the recent insurgence of zombie horror and Roland Emmerich’s computer-generated cataclysms, it’s the end of the world as we know it.

At least, it is at the multiplexes.

The latest foray into this post-apocalyptic subgenre is The Road, based on an austere Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Cormac McCarthy (who also scribed No Country for Old Men).

Faithfully translated by Joe Penhall and captured with convincing bleakness under the direction of John Hillcoat (The Proposition), The Road is vastly superior to mindless blow-em-ups like 2012. It is a tense and finely acted adaptation, although one that pales to its source material.

After an unexplained disaster annihilates much of civilization, a man (Viggo Mortensen) and his young son (newcomer Kodi Smit-McPhee) travel through the wreckage in hopes of reaching the ocean.

However, the road is long and winding. Food and shelter are scarce, the climate is chilly, and the father fears that he is slowly dying. He reassures his son that they are good men who are “carrying the fire,” able to survive all obstacles because they depend on each other

The father vows to teach his little boy how to fend for himself. Meanwhile, armed with a pistol and only two bullets, he struggles to protect his son from cannibalistic bands that peruse the barren wildneress, searching for a feast.

McCarthy’s novel is thick with description of the bruised, ashy landscape. Hillcoat captures this gloomy aftermath with images that are dreary, but wholly mesmerizing. The haunting prose gives way to stunning onscreen visuals.

Moreover, the touching father-son relationship forged in the novel is recreated excellently and carries the film. Mortensen is fierce and heart-wrenching as the anguished father. Smit-McPhee is also wonderful, in a role of tremendous focus and sensitivity.

This adaptation was undoubtedly a tricky one for screenwriter Joe Penhall. While McCarthy’s novel is especially grave, the story is also monotonous and uneventful, and dialogue is sparse.

These elements are what ultimately detract from the film. Not much happens in the book, and alas, not that much happens in the movie either.

The film tries to expand from the original work by offering numerous flashbacks of the mother (Charlize Theron) who could not join them on the road. But, these scenes make the film lag, and don’t hold a candle to the stirring father-and-son dynamic.

While magnificent in its desolation, The Road is a long journey that often tries on our patience. Still, the fiery performances from Mortensen and Smit-McPhee are undeniably powerful and make this journey one worth traveling.