The Rover

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.

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.

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.

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!

What a bleak future this film portrays.

Felt like an apocalyptic Western meets old school Road Warrior. Filmed in the Australian desert, I think they could have financed this film from loose change at starring actors Guy Pearce and Robert Pattinson's houses.

Without a doubt the best performance from Robert Pattinson I've seen. Granted, I've not seen too many Pattinson films but he does a really good job of playing the half wit brother of one of the dudes jacked Guy's car.

Mysterious drifter shows up at the filthiest, dingiest outback pub in Australia just for a glass of water. Three shot up dudes in a truck crash outside the pub, steal his car and he will stop and nothing, nothing to get it back.

It's a wonderfully dreary world in which this film is set. Everyone is so dirty. They should get an Oscar for make up when all the actors did was not shower for what looks about three months.

Lots of long shots, tension filled chords supply the majority of the soundtrack.

I really dug it. Most folks are gonna hate it. Very gritty. Very dirty. Very violent. Very non-Hollywood.

It's a nice piece of cinema. And there's a midget.