The Rover - A Caçada

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.

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.

A disheveled loner (Guy Pearce) trails a trio of thieves who stole his car. Along the way he picks up the slow-witted brother (Robert Pattinson) of one of the thieves. Dystopian future or post-apocalyptic movies kind of blend together after you've seen a lot of them. So when one comes along that feels fresh like this one, it deserves praise for that alone. The acting is excellent. Guy Pearce has long been an actor whose work I enjoy but the big surprise here is Robert Pattinson, who ensures with this performance that he will be remembered for more than the Twilight movies. Taut direction with quality acting, writing, and music. It's a good movie but not for everybody. Dark, gritty, often slow and certainly violent. But it's also very rewarding if you're wiling to give it a chance.

The reviews for this weren't exactly bad, or even mixed. But it did seem to get a lot of negative ones, and a lot of neutral, unpassionate ones. To my surprise, this is a fine film. Sure, not all that original, but the directing is really strong, as is the acting, Robert Pattinson, in particular, really shines and the best I've ever seen him be. Who knew he had this sort of performance in him, I certainly didn't, and it makes me interested in what he can accomplish in the future. Guy Pearce was strong too, with a pretty subdued, but very intense, character to play. The rest of the supporting players give some nice work too. Overall, I recommend this.

This film tells the story of a desperate and lonely man whose car is stolen. He goes to extreme lengths to recover his car, killing many people along the way.

"The Rover" is compared to "The Road", which I really enjoyed. "The Rover" tries to create the desolation and desperation in "The Road", but it doesn't quite work. Where the story is going is not clear in the film, and hence it looks as if Guy Pearce's character is a mad man going on a killing spree because someone has done him a little wrong. The pacing is super slow, and therefore it doesn't captivate my interest. Do the characters really need two minutes to walk from a car to a house? That is really dragging screen time unnecessarily.

The only redeeming feature is the performance of Robert Pattison. I thought he was just a pretty face that made it big because of a wildly popular series of films. In here, he gives a memorable as a mentally challenged young man. If only the rest of the film is as good as his performance!