The Road
Tags: dark, boring, depressing, murder, suspenseful, bleak, suicidal, violence, flashback, romantic, sentimental

Plot synopsis:
The movie opens in a flashback where we see the Man (Viggo Mortensen) in bed with his wife (Charlize Theron). The man wakes up to a sound and a glow coming from outside the window of their room. He walks to the window and looks out. In a hurry, he then runs into the bathroom where he begins to fill the sink and bathtub. His wife wakes up and comes into the bathroom. She asks him why he is taking a shower, but answers that this is not what the water is for. She then looks outside to see what he saw. The scene then cuts to the present where the man is walking with his son down a snow-covered road.As the Man and his son are walking, we hear a narration by the Man explaining that he no longer keeps track of time. He further explains (in a very vague way) that a few years ago at 1:17, there was a bright flash in the sky followed by rumbling sounds and that was when time stopped. As the Man and his son walk and search abandoned cars, the narration continues. He then says that the sun has not come out for a long time; the weather is getting colder and greyer every day. He then says the things he fears the most are cannibals and hunger. They are walking to the coast and heading south to see if things are warmer and better there.The Man and his son stop at a car in the road and make camp. While they sit in the car talking, we see that the Man has a pistol with 2 rounds remaining and a shopping cart full of things they have collected. The two talk about the boy's mother, making it clear that she has been dead for a significant time. The Man also explains to the son how to kill himself the right way with the gun, and that the remaining 2 bullets are for themselves. As they continue their journey, we see several flashbacks to the Man and his wife. We witness her giving birth to their son and that she reluctantly did so, apparently aware that the life they would give him would be hopeless. Right then the flashback ends as the man wakes up suddenly to the sound of a truck in the distance. He wakes his son and they run out of the truck they were sleeping in into the nearby woods, leaving the cart. They jump and hide in a ditch. From the tunnel emerges a large truck carrying several armed men. One stranger walks very close to the hiding Man and his son, and stops to urinate on a tree. He notice the father and son and tries to lure them to the truck, stating that they eat "Whatever we can find". The Man points the gun at the stranger and tells him to not look back at the men he came with or that he will shoot. He refuses and calls the Man's bluff. As the noise of the truck startles the Man, the stranger jumps and grabs the son, holding him at knifepoint. The Man shoots the stranger in the head, grabs his son and runs into the woods hiding over night avoiding the group who were looking for them.The next morning, the Man and his son go back for the cart. The contents of their cart have been pillaged. While the Man gathers the remainer of his things, he notices a pile of intenstines, as well as the clothing and severed head of the man that was killed the day before. It is evident that the men in the truck would have eaten our protagonists had they came out into the open. In a flashback, we see the Man and his wife talking about killing themselves like the other families in the area. She says that eventually they will be caught, that she and their son be raped, that all three will be murdered and eaten. He says that she needs to be strong and stop talking about this bleak scenario. She says that they only have 2 bullets left and that they should use them now. Unable to deal with her bleak outlook on the future, he leaves the room. Returning to the main story, the Man and rest by their campfire. The son asks if they are still the good guys. The Man explains that they are always going to be the good guys, and they are carrying the fire inside themselves.Back on the road, the man and his son rest in an abandonned truck. The son mentions that he sometimes wishes that he was dead, partially so he could be with his mother. Telling his son that he shouldn't be thinking or talking about her too much, the man contemplates some of the last memories of his wife. In the morning, the Man wakes up and walks to the edge of the bridge where he takes a wallet out of his jacket with a picture of his wife in it. He throws it over the bridge and leaves his wedding ring behind. We get another flashback of the Man and his wife talking. She has given up all hope and has decided to comitt suicide. He begs her to stay another night. She blames the man for not letting her die earlier and walks outside without saying goodbye to the son. She takes off her jacket and outer clothing and walks off into the dark to die.The two walk on and see a large house in the distance. After looking at it through binoculars, they decide to go into the home. In the main room, they notice a large pile of shoes. The Man is very confused and goes into the kitchen where he sees a large door in the floor, closed via padlock. They break in and go down into the cellar. They hear something in the darkness and when they get close, a naked man comes into the light. As they attempt to leave, they see that the naked man is not alone. An entire group of malnourished people, some missing limbs beg them for help. They fight off the desperate captives and block the door with a heavy table. As they are about to leave, the owners of the house return. The Man and his son run upstairs and hide in a bathroom. As one of the captors approaches, the father points the gun at his son's head to protect him from the cannibals. Luckily for them, the cannibals are distracted by the captives attempting to make an escape. In the commotion, the Man and his son run out and quickly hide while the people in the home try to find them. As night falls, they hear the screams of someone being butchered.As they are walking, they find the neighborhood where the Man grew up and he takes a moment to visit his boyhood home. While waiting outside, the son briefly sees a boy across the street. He runs to see him, but is caught by his father. They leave, once again heading south, the boy lamenting the fact that he is probably the only boy left alive.Having run out of food, the two come across another home on the road. They rummage through the house and find the remains of a man who died in bed. Having lost hope, they stumble upon an unlooted bomb shelter in the back yard. Finding ample food and supplies inside, they eat, clean themselves up and make home in the new shelter. One night, they hear noises above. The noise sounds like a dog, meaning that the area is no longer safe. They stock up food in a pull cart and head out the next morning.As they are walking, they see an old man (Robert Duvall) walking. They approach him very carefully and see that he is no threat. The boy wants to bring him along and the Man says no, but he allows the old man to eat dinner with them. As they eat and talk, the old man says that he thought the boy was an angel and he never thought he would see a child again. They continue to talk and then go to sleep. The next day the Man and the son are on their way alone again.While the Man and the son continue, they go into the woods and leave the cart because they see a series of wooden huts. As they walk closer, the Man sees a row of spears with human skulls and other human remains on the ground. Quickly turning the other way, they see a fresh pile of blood-soaked snow.In the distance, a woman and a child are being chased by a band of cannibals. The Man and the son get away while we hear the dying screams of the woman. This frightful sight is followed by a small earthquake. Multiple trees almost hit them and they take cover and hide. After the dust has settled, they get back to the road once again.After they Man and son wake up from camp, we see that the Man is growing sicker. They talk about how they are close to the ocean. Arriving, they are both disappointed at the receding beach, which is littered with garbage and debris. The ocean, which the boy had hoped would be blue, is a muddy brown. They walk to the water and look at a crashed boat about 200 yards into the surf. Hoping to find something useful inside the wreck, the man leaves his son with the revolver in their makeshift tent. The son falls asleep and we see a stranger with a knife walk up to the tent. The next shot is of the Man swimming back to shore with a flare gun from the boat. He puts on his clothes and goes running to his son. All of their supplies are gone, but the son is not harmed. The thief took everything including the Mans shoes. Cursing, the man is determined to retrieve their belongings.As the Man carries his son, they see the thief with their cart in the distance. The Man takes the pistol and runs after the thief. The Man proceeds to take back his belongings and rob the thief, taking his knife, his clothes and his shoes. The son begs his father to have mercy on the man, but he refuses. Back on the beach, the boy is very upset and sulks, eventually convincing his father to return the stolen belongings to their owner. They go back and try to find the thief, but he is nowhere to be seen. They leave his clothes in apile, along with a can of food.The Man and his son continue walking.They start walking through a street lined with homes. It is quiet and they find a tin with a live bug inside. While it flies away, they both stare at it in amazement. Distracted, the Man does not notice an archer across the street and gets hit in the leg. They jump to take cover and the Man retaliates with his flare gun. We hear screaming from the room and the wounded Man goes running to see who is inside. He gets in the room where he sees a woman who is sitting over the stranger who shot him. The archer is dead and the woman accompanying him weeps. Our heroes bandage up the man's leg as best they can, leaving the woman.The Man and his son go walking back to the ocean and the man stops. He says he can no longer pull the cart. They take a bag full of the food and they head to a sandy spot of the beach. They make camp and the man, realizing that he is dying dreams of his wife. We see what life was like prior to the world ending. He wakes up to his son talking to him. The Man knows he is going to die soon, and he tells his son to continue on south. He says to remember the things he has taught him and to keep going like they have been. The son says he wants to die with his father, but the Man says that he cannot. He says that his whole heart is in his son and he has to go on. He then falls asleep and dies.After a period of mourning, the son looks at his father, reaches into his jacket and takes his binoculars. He then covers the Man with a blanket, puts the pistol with single round into his belt and begins walking along the shoreline. In the distance, we see a stranger (Guy Pierce) walking toward the son. The son points his gun towards the stranger, but amazingly, the man does not reciprocate. He tells the boy that he is not a cannibal and that he is "one of the good guys". The stranger asks the son who the man on the beach is and the son explains that it was his father. The stranger explains to the boy that he now has 2 choices. Either go on his own, avoiding the roads or joining him and the others that he is travelling with.The son asks if he has any children, to which the answer says "a boy and a girl". Asking if he is carrying the fire inside, to which the stranger does not know how to answer, the boy decides to join them. Saying goodbye to his father one last time, the son walks to the stranger. We see that he is with a woman (Molly Parker) and 2 children, a boy and a girl. The boy was the one the Son spotted earlier by his father's childhood home. We learn that this family has been following the boy for some time, and that the dog they heard earlier at the bomb shelter was their companion. He is assured that he no longer has anything to worry about.

Review: The wonderful thing about the Road is that it will more than likely please the two camps: the one that has not read Cormac McCarthy's Pulitzer prize-winning book, and the one that has.
There's the nervous feeling one gets when watching the theatrical trailer, though - will it be this super action-packed spectacle, will those images that open the trailer with "THE END OF THE WORLD IS NEAR!" stick around, and will Charlize Theron actually be in the movie that much?
it still works as a movie, as a simple-but-not story of a father and son survival drama- and clinging on to their humanity- first, and then a post-apocalypse thriller far second.To describe the plot is not impossible but sort of unnecessary.
All you need to know going in (if you're part of not-read-book camp) is that a father and son, after becoming on their own after the mother of the house exits, are traveling together across a true post-apocalypse landscape to a coast.
I still, having read it two years ago (which sadly seems like long ago in usually remembering specific images of a book), can't get the descriptions of scenes out of my head, or the stark manner of how characters talked and dread and existential horror was relayed.
Dialog scenes in the movie- save for a couple of the flashback scenes with Charlize Theron's Mother character- are never obtrusive to the storytelling, which is a rightful concern to have with an adaptation of the book.
Yet it's also crucial to see how good the kid Smit-McPhee is too, especially when it comes time for scenes where the boy has to deal with his father's growing desperation or the electrifying showdown with a thief.To be sure, a couple of walk-on roles by Guy Pearce as another fellow traveler and especially Robert Duvall as a "90 year old man" as his character says provide some needed space, and Hillcoat has a couple of very wise flashback/dream bits with The Man and his wife (namely a very small, brilliant moment at a piano), but it's the all on the two main character to lead the film, and it's on them that it delivers so strongly.
As long as you know that this is a film centered not on big action sequences (though there are a couple), and not on big special effects (though there's that too), and it's more akin to a life-or-death-and-what-else story not unlike Grave of the Fireflies, you'll know what you're getting with the Road.
Thru it trudge The Man (Viggo Mortenson) and The Boy (Kodi Smit-McPhee), slowly and painfully making their way to "the coast", where maybe things will be marginally better.
It's unlikely that anyone else will ever make another movie that treats the end of the world so realistically, so if you want to see the standard against which all others will be compared, this is your chance.Stay away if you're depressed or prone to it, and avoid razor blades for 12 hours afterward..
Not only does the story accurately exhibit the polar opposite aspects of a post apocalyptic existence, but the cinematography used during the flashbacks of a life full of color and hope many take for granted, is excellently positioned with the dark, dismal, and often terrifying reality that is the Road.
I read Cormac McCarthy's novel a few years ago & figured it would be made into a movie (this was when "No Country for Old Men" was playing) but I wondered how they could make this extremely grim tale into something that people would want to see.This film was every bit as grim as the novel and it seemed to be a faithful adaptation of it.
And they've never been more important.The Road, directed by John Hillcoat (The Proposition) and based on the novel by Cormac McCarthy (No Country For Old Men), is a dark, poignant story of a father and son journeying through a post-apocalyptic wasteland, withstanding harsh weather, malnutrition, and under the constant threat of marauders, thieves and cannibals.
The Road is a smaller, more penetrating film that draws strength from its intimacy and its ability to do so much with so little.Viggo Mortensen gives an emotional tour de force as the embattled father; look for him on the red carpet come March.
Charlize Theron, Robert Duvall, and Guy Pearce give small but highly memorable performances, Duvall in particular, whose portrayal of a withered old man journeying all alone will haunt you.The desolate environment in which the story takes place is itself a character, foreign yet eerily familiar, and so perfectly conceptualized that it matches – heck, surpasses the standard of realism set by films such as 28 Days Later and Children of Men. Shot throughout four states, including at the site of the Mount St. Helens eruption, Hillcoat and cinematographer Javier Aguirresarobe (The Others, The Sea Inside) paint a backdrop that is altogether beautiful and devastating.They say that every generation since the dawn of man has feared the End, and while this may be true, not every generation has seen what our modern technology is capable of.
The Road is a dark looking glass into our future, and what it is likely to become if our primal nature is left unchecked.Early in the film, the son looks at his father and asks him, "We're the good guys, right?" The father's response is in the affirmative, but as their situation become increasingly desperate, that sense of morality we think to be ingrained is put to the test.
He holds up a mirror to the world and hypnotizes you with it.As far as post-apocalyptic movies go, The Road is hands-down one of the best ever made.
Then again, the film's failure is being even bleaker than the source, a testimony to the power of the imagination.Except for a father (Viggo Mortensen) and young son (Kodi Smit-Mcphee), who represents the hope of the human race as the story assumes the trappings of allegorical, post-apocalyptic literature and film where the desolate outside mirrors the lonely inside of the humans, not all of whom are willing to carry on the good fight.
Not the least of which could be nuclear or cannibal; the former does not make an appearance while the latter is omnipresent.Director John Hillcoat has emphasized more than McCarthy the role, by flashback, of the wife/mother (Charlize Theron), but overall he has taken dialogue directly from the novel and stayed true to the bleak landscape where the sun doesn't shine and the trees fall intermittently like humans giving up the ghost.The gray tones and beat up humans are like those in most post- apocalyptic films; however, as in Children of Men to a lesser extent, the focus is on how to survive, not even how to avoid death.
The Road - Viggo Mortensen stars in the role of "Man" who contends with cannibals and earthquakes all for the safety of "Boy" (Kodi Smit-McPhee).
By the end of the film the actors had me in the palms of their hands, even making me shed a tear, and i don't usually cry at films!!Personally, there isn't a single thing I would change about this movie so I would feel unjust in giving it any less than a 10/10..
aren't getting you down enough, and you're one of those people who are perhaps more content and optimistic than important filmmakers know you deserve to be, there's hope in sight because this movie could be just your kind of escapist fare, with the potential to take you down that critically-acclaimed road to long-lasting depression.Yes, was there ever such a downbeat masterpiece in cinematic history?
The way it would work is like this: the patient would be required to sit through this film without interruption, and then at the end, the psychiatrist turns to the patient and says "See, things could always be worse!"However, one could argue that this film is about the perseverance to survive in spite of enormous odds against, the dedicated love between father and son amidst very difficult circumstances.
He's like oblivious vampire stages circumstances to suck out his son's unconditional love, effectively leaving him no alternative person to interact with but himself, as the only man alive, who does not want to kill him.If you read horrifying "Child of God", the naive cowboy retro "All The Pretty Horses" or "No Country for Old Men" you may feel that the "The Road" is a logical progression.
vm's character in this film really cheesed me off.instead of teaching his son how to survive in this environment, at every turn he shielded him from the harshest lessons he would need to stay alive--like reading the signs cannibals leave, or letting him see what would happen if he was caught, and teaching how to commit suicide instead of learning to kill.
but he and his boy received both.i think the story would have been far better if the boy had gone native, and vm had been appalled at what this dying world had made of his son, and he longing for the old time to come back to heal the boy.
Do not waste your time and money to watch this Movie .Hollywood has officially gone stupid and brainwashed .The only movies they release nowadays are either Animations , Iraq war propaganda or End of the world scenarios .Scaremongering and brainwashing .Unless you've read the book that the movie is based on , good luck trying to figure what the director is trying to convey.To all the people who smell Oscar nominations for this movie , please stop taking medications , they mess up your mind .I don't know what's going on with IMDb but lately all of the bad Movies get high ratings .
In a post-apocalyptic world in a near future, a man (Viggo Mortensen) and his young son (Kodi Smit-McPhee) wander heading to South seeking good people through destroyed roads.
The man recalls the good moments of his life with his wife (Charlize Theron) and begins to lose his humanity while his son pushes him to help and old man (Robert Duvall) and a thief (Michael Kenneth Williams).
Unfortunately many fans of blockbuster movies have written unfair bad reviews in IMDb, probably expecting to see a fast-paced popcorn film with lots of explosions and special effects.
However, the sad story is supported by a solid screenplay with a dark cinematography; great direction; and magnificent performances of Viggo Mortensen and Kodi Smit-McPhee, followed by Robert Duvall, Charlize Theron and a magnificent cast.
Sadly, this movie came no where near my expectations and I am surprised at the score this has somehow managed to achieve.Whilst the acting and the photography were okay- the story and lack of substance in this picture left me feeling like I'd wasted an hour-and-a-half of my life on a film that was pretty much devoid of plot, thrills, twists or any follow-though on any of the scenes.
Each scene felt less relevant than the last and I was less than gripped throughout still waiting for something of worth to happen as the credits started rolling.The setting for the movie had such potential, and generally would be my cup of tea, other films that have tackled similar issues such as "I am Legend", "The Postman" or even, to some extent, "Carriers" have all portrayed a dystopic view of the future, but have also made the story entertaining and relevant.
I was expecting a 28 days later style film but instead got a movie that felt like it's was 7hrs long yet nothing really happened.
However, the film was very slow, very depressing, and watching it I was waiting through the movie for something to happen and make it interesting, and nothing happens.The film is set in the future where all plant and animal life has died, and only a handful of people are left alive.
Did they run out of money and just decided to stop the movie half way?The story is about a man and his son traveling through America on foot after some big thing happened (nuclear...
A good father and his son attempting to survive by any means possible in a perilous post-apocalyptic world.
The father travels along with a young boy seeking goods in destroyed places and articles in markets as water and supplies , they undergo a dangerous journey towards the coast .The clothes they are wearing are dirty and carrying a rusting shopping cart of scavenged food .This stirring movie is packed with emotive drama ,thrills , chills with two starring who have been wandering westward across America for encounter the sea .
This post-apocalyptic tale, in which a lone man fights his way across America against the lawless cannibalistic bands that stalk the road and in order to protect his lovely son .
A post-apocalyptic , depressing tale of a man and his son trying to survive by any means possible .
While Viggo Mortensen's and the kid's acting may have been good, and while the book may have garnered a Pulizer, this is just another in a long series movies of post Apocalypse world (Waterworld, Soylent Green to name two), inescapable plot, boring and preposterous.
Before it premiered, The Road was a film project people discussed with equal doses of trepidation and fear: on the one hand, it's based on a Pulitzer-winning novel by Cormac McCarthy, whose minimalist prose had already been successfully adapted by the Coen brothers (see No Country for Old Men), stars one of the best actors in recent American cinema (Viggo Mortensen) and is directed by John Hillcoat, the man who gave us the acclaimed The Proposition; on the other, the decision to postpone the film's release (the excessively bleak tone being cited as the reason) for a year triggered inevitable rumors of a "troubled" production.
And not entirely without a good reason.In fairness to the producers and distributors, the plot is a bit of a downer: a father and son, credited only as Man (Mortensen) and Boy (Kodi Smit McPhee), are constantly on the move, searching for a safe place in a post-apocalyptic, devastated world where people have resorted to murder and cannibalism in order to survive.
Their journey is inter-cut with flashbacks depicting Man's life with the boy's mother (Charlize Theron) right before the situation went down the drain.The Road is certainly an ambitious project, and the book's stark description of a dark future translates very well on the screen: Hillcoat's use of landscape and lighting is impeccable, and the combination of cut-to-the-bone dialogue and raw, desperate acting (at least on Mortensen's part) ensures that Man and Boy's harrowing quest for survival doesn't pass by unnoticed.
The Road is possibly one of the most disturbing movies I have ever watched, probably at the top of the list, thinking about my child.
It was the most slow paced useless depressing piece I have ever seen if there was a message or moral to the tale I did not notice it.It seemed to go on forever without much happening the whole story and everything in it could have been told in 15 minutes.I am a big fan of Robert Duvall, Viggo Mortenson, and Charlize Theron their performances were as good as ever though they did not have much to work with, the script was chronically bad it could have been written on a napkin in a bar and probably was.If you are considering watching this film I would suggest that instead you pay some one to slap you in the face for a solid 2 hours, trust me you would find that to be a much nicer experience..
The best apocalyptic themed film that I've seen is Children of Men. The Road is not anywhere near as good.
Won't go into too much detail, you'll either think it's OK, or won't like it at all.But I guarantee you one thing - by the end of the movie you will hate Kodi Smit-McPhee.
Aside from the kid, the acting is good, but you don't expect less from a movie with Vigo Mortensen, Charlize Theron, Guy Pearce, and Robert Duvall in it.
In the post-apocalyptic wasteland of America, a Man (Viggo Mortensen) and his Boy (Kodi Smit-McPhee) travel the road hoping to avoid the 'bad' people, and ultimately stay alive as along as humanly possible.
Based on Cormac McCarthy's (Blood Meridian, No Country For Old Men) 2006 acclaimed novel 'The Road', the film is more about how we and our loved ones cope after a devastating event as much as it is about survival in the harshest environments left on Earth.
There is so much wrong with film, and so much of it has been covered by other reviewers that instead of piling on I'm just going to cover what I think is worst thing about this movie, and that is the lead characters.
A heartbreaking journey of a father and son desperate to survive in the harshest post-apocalyptic world ever imagined!
The kid was great and the cameos by Duvall and Pearce are fantastic.Set in a world which is imaginable, but hopefully not coming our way EVER, "The Road" is a scary, thrilling romp but ultimately a little too nihilistic in it's approach to the human spirit.Now that I've pointed out some good things, here comes the bad.
The reason for the earth being in this post apocalyptic state is never given, I guess it is seen as being irrelevant, which I though was a nice touch, you don't need to know why this has happened just that it has.The film follows a father and son on their way south where they believe the weather to be warmer and the food to be more plentiful.
Based on the 2006 novel of the same name by American author Cormac McCarthy (No Country For Old Men), the film stars Viggo Mortensen and Kodi Smit-McPhee as a father and his son trying to survive in a post-apocalyptic world.How do you sell such a sombre piece to the film loving public?