The Rover reminds
me a lot of a certain television show: The
Walking Dead. Just take away the
Zombie Apocalypse and replace it with classic Apocalypse Generic, and the
Hobbesian atmosphere of oppression and survival of the strongest will dominate
your feelings during the film’s runtime.
However, much like The Walking
Dead, this movie has its ups and downs, serving to be really intriguing and
thought-provoking at key moments, but the quieter moments mostly serve to bore
or seem more loftily intelligent than they actually are.
Our story starts out with a group of thieves fleeing a
robbery and leaving behind an injured member named Rey, played by a
surprisingly decent Robert Pattinson.
The gang then crashes their vehicle and steals a car belonging to Eric,
a bitterly violent man who isn’t willing to give up his car at any cost, played
by Guy Pearce. After losing the gang’s
trail, Eric begins to track down the thieves and eventually finds Rey in
desperate need of medical attention.
Realizing that Rey is his only chance of tracking down his car, Eric
takes the injured man with him, and the two begin a journey to hunt down the
thieves.
The enjoyment of this film mainly relies on the sympathy one
feels for the main characters. Eric is a
stoic protagonist with a past that he is less than willing to talk about. He’s ruthless, but not bloodthirsty. He only wants back what is his, and when the
reasons for hunting down this specific car become clear in the final scene of
the film, it is a brutally chilling revelation.
Rey, on the other hand, is a slow-witted man trying to come to grips with
being betrayed by his brother, one of the gang members who left him behind to
die. Rey struggles with the fact that
the one person he’d relied on his entire life for love and companionship would
leave him for dead, and the young man’s journey toward self-reliance is both
hopeful and heartbreaking.
And yet, for every good character moment, there’s another
that seems pointlessly drawn out. There
are perhaps one or two too many driving montage scenes where nothing really
happens except some bizarre orchestration; I understand that much of the time
spent between Eric and Rey is silently driving, but I don’t really see the need
to show that. Furthermore, Rey gets some
scenes to himself that don’t really do much to further the plot or his
character development, and really only seem to be there to ensure that
Pattinson gets as much screen time as Pearce.
This has the consequence of drawing out an already subdued and
thoughtful film into a boring and plodding one.
I feel that I can recommend The Rover for its good moments, for by the time the climax rolls
around those moments tend to overshadow any bad ones. This is a solid work with some solid
performances and a solid story. It has
its pacing issues and its mild pretentions, but overall, I think it’s worth
seeing. This was a flop at the box
office, and I wouldn’t mind seeing it make its money back through DVD
purchases. Check out The Rover when you get the chance.
Any post-apocalyptic films strike your fancy? And please, don’t everyone jump up and say Mad Max.
Leave your thoughts in the comments below.
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