Review | The Road

OPENS: Wednesday 11/23

The Road seems endless in director John Hillcoat’s plodding adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's grim post-apocalyptic best-selling book. A nameless father and son (Viggo Mortensen and Kodi Smit-McPhee) leave behind their home and memories of the boy's mom (Charlize Theron) to plod across a devastated American landscape with fuzzy hopes for survival. Pushing a shopping cart and carrying a pistol, the man leads his boy past threatening bands of starving survivors who now consider humans the other white meat. What might have seemed moody and poetic in McCarthy's spare prose now plays like a familiar zombie movie, and not even Mortensen's unwavering commitment to the role and his deep connection to the child actor (who eerily resembles Theron) can elevate it. Mortensen's weakness is also that of the film: Bleak is one thing; taking oneself too seriously is another. Even more problematic, the incessant flashbacks that showcase Theron drag the movie’s progress (one meaty predisaster scene would have been sufficient). Still, the man-boy bond and the universal truth that every father must prepare his son to walk on alone after he’s gone have authentic poignancy — and give the film a touch of heart.

-- THELMA ADAMS