The Rover

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.

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.

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.

I was very motivated to watch this movie because I truly admire Pattinson as a full on artist. I had the feeling his performance was going to be good,but I honestly didn't expect "great", and I was so taken over by it! I'm happy he had this chance to show he it's not "just a handsome face". After this performance powerful yet subtle and mighty professional, Pattinson shows what he is made of. I hope after this he gets more roles and invitations to work for serious movies. He reminds me of both DiCaprio and Pitt at the beginning of their careers. Guy's performance was off the charts. Don't miss his expression on th last 10 minutes of the movie. It's of the best I have seen him deliver. I believe this movie will never be a crowd pleaser because it is way too artistic to be popular, there a many symbols and allegories to losses that will be missed... It's a work of art though. Perseverance pays off Mr. Pattinson. Keep up the good work and good luck.

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.