The Rover

In an extremely violent post-apocalyptic world where most human kindness and decency seems to have disappeared, a lone drifter hunts down a group of men who stole his car. That is, in a nutshell, the story of 'The Rover'.

The film is in many ways extremely nihilistic. There is little dialogue, the story takes place in the harsh and empty Australian desert, most characters are tough and tight-lipped, and the violence is abundant. This is at the same time the strength and the weakness of the film.

Watching it is an experience, many scenes are gripping and intense. But at times, I wished this would be a more 'normal' film, with more back story, more plot development, more dialogue. At the end, its slowness and weirdness got on my nerves. It is a very atmospheric film: the general mood of lawlessness, moral decay, and hopelessness is very captivating. But that in itself is not enough to carry the film. I would have liked a bit more explanation about why people act like they do.

One final remark: I was impressed by Robert Pattinson's acting. He plays a young man who seems to be not quite right in his head - an extremely demanding role.

Screened out of competition at the 67th Cannes Film Festival David Michôd's second feature The Rover is not as fascinating as his Oscar nominated Animal Kingdom. Nevertheless it is an interesting picture and a respectable effort from the promising director.

The film opens to the Australian outback and says at the very beginning that it's been ten years after the collapse. People have suffered an immense economic crisis which left them in the vacuum of authority, lawlessness and banditry. Every single being on screen is desperate. A robbery gone bloody wrong, three men run away from the scene of the crime leaving a wounded brother behind. As their car breaks down along the way they steal another. It belongs to Eric and he is madly determined to get it back. What makes it more interesting is Eric and Rey, the man the gang left behind, come across each other and build up bonds.

At one point of their wearing journey Rey says "Not everything has to be about something" This stuck with me throughout, I took it as a way of saying the contrary -everything has to be about something-. Michôd's film works both as a post- apocalyptic nightmare and an absorbing contemporary western with something to say. Yes, the social commentary were a bit blatant at times (especially that talk between Eric and a soldier) but I like the whole aim of the film as to me it tried to look and find remnants of something human in its lost wanderers. Still though I find the finale to be infuriating, maybe that was the intention, but at least we get to learn why Eric is so inexorable about taking his car back. The reveal was heartbreaking and showed that one would still cling to love in the direst of circumstances.

As for Eric and Rey, I find their relationship intriguing. Eric is like the needed older brother, the father figure to Rey. Right after his singing "Don't hate me cause I'm beautiful" in the car, Rey goes and sits next to Eric. And at that moment I felt Rey wanted to come closer but Eric prevented it saying "go to sleep". I don't know, there was something there and I liked it.

The film is beautiful to look at, it's technically impressive and well directed. One should also mention the commendable work from its actors Pearce and Pattinson. Especially the latter who has never been better. While his face was distractingly over expressive on some occasions, Pattinson still gives a consistent performance as the half-witted Rey.

'The Rover' is one of many 'post apocalyptic' films, offering us its vision of 'life after society.' This time they don't bother adding zombies to the bleakness, choosing instead to do something dark, gritty and hopefully realistic (think 'The Road' if you've seen that).

We're introduced to Australia, a few years after 'the collapse' (whatever that might be). Either way, it's left people basically to fend for themselves and the Outback is a dangerous place to be. We meet Guy Pearce (who, despite numerous Hollywood films under his belt, I still think of him as 'Mike' from Neighbours) who has his car stolen by a gang of wasters who are on the run. This seems to tip him over the edge and he goes on a crusade to get it back... no matter who or what stands in his way.

I've seen plenty of 'revenge films' where the hero must go on a rampage in order to avenge something. However, this is the first one I've seen the hero base his sole purpose in life in order to take back a set of wheels. Unrealistic as that may sound for a plot, I suppose it's give some added credence by the fact that he doesn't seem that stable to begin with. And here's my first problem with the film. I didn't like Guy Pearce's character. I'm okay with 'anti-heroes' who have to bend and break the rules in order to bring about justice. However, he seems to be pretty much without morals. I won't go into the exact details, but, soon after meeting our 'hero' he doesn't something pretty dark which doesn't really make you identify with him. He then meets a guy who looks a bit like a fat version of Robert Pattinson. I later looked on the internet and was shocked when I realised it WAS Robert Pattinson! I'm guessing he wanted to 'bulk up' and look as different to his sparkly vampire persona as he could. And he succeeded.

Then the two of them generally continue their quest for a car (and stuff). Now, seeing as The Rover has already been in cinemas, I'm guessing that most people will now watch it on DVD. And here's the thing... because the 'story' is basically either or both Mike from Neighbours and Edward Cullen travelling through the Outback and meeting one dodgy person after the next – then 'rinse and repeat,' you can actually use the DVD's 'chapter skip' option to take you through the story and not actually miss anything. Seriously, if you tried pressing the button a few times you wouldn't miss a single pertinent plot detail. It's just 'meet the next grubby character and keep going.

Now, I know I'm being a bit negative about it all, but it does have its good points... namely its look and feel. I mentioned earlier about how it looked like 'The Road' (only in the sunnier Outback, obviously). It too is dark in tone, depressing and does a pretty good job at showing how life might be if society fell apart at the seams.

Most people will either love or hate it. And I can see both arguments. You'll either love how dark and moody it is (dialogue is often pretty light and well spaced-out!), or simply find it dull. There certainly isn't enough action in it to call it a thrilling action movie. Basically, if you're in the mood for 'bleak and slow' then you'll get something out of this. An roller-coaster ride-explosion-fest it is not.

The world is reeling from an economic melt down. Society hangs on precariously in a state of lawlessness. Following a botched bank robbery a man's car is stolen. This is his story of getting his car back.

The main character is hardened, non communicative and solely dedicated to the task of getting his car back. What follows is a violent road movie with one of the most unlikable, grumpiest heroes of all time.

Despite being a total douche I did start to warm to the character. This is a clear indication of how well made the movie is. Guy Pierce is great, which is just as well as he is tasked with shouldering most of the load.

The world is grubby, squalid and dangerous. Yet it has an element of realism about it. The police desperately try to keep order in a world where most people have all but given up.

An enjoyable watch with a beautifully bitter ending.

The Rover is an anti-blockbuster mainly because of its rhythm : it is very slow, therefore preventing many people to stick to it while watching it.

What you get here is not some amusement but rather gives material to think. We're not escaping from existence, like with e.g. Gravity, Hunger Games or whatever acclaimed propaganda. And it is quite disturbing as the more we go on watching the movie, the more we confront with some reflections about our time : there's no more gods, no more laws and we're getting increasingly isolated. Just the gruesome reality. People are striving to survive and protect what is theirs (always material things), though remains some hints of optimism - and Pattinson is playing quite well on this regard.