The Road

Has anyone seen this film. I saw it recently and thought it was marvelous. I only recently became aware of Cormac McCarthey's books.

Anyone have any idea how the world actually ended?

I'm gagging to see it. Looks class.

My dad recommended me the book a few months ago, but I never got round to reading it. I plan to read the book before seeing the film.

Originally Posted by Azog 150

My dad recommended me the book a few months ago, but I never got round to reading it. I plan to read the book before seeing the film.

Thats a good idea actually.

Originally Posted by EireEmerald

Has anyone seen this film. I saw it recently and thought it was marvelous. I only recently became aware of Cormac McCarthey's books.

Anyone have any idea how the world actually ended?

I loved it and I loved the book. Really powerful works. Viggo Mortensen deserves an oscar, shame he won't get one because it tanked due to an interfering distributor.

The book and movie never make it clear WHAT caused the apocalypse, it's humanity's reaction which is the focus, seen through the eyes of a man and boy.
That said in order of likelihood I think it was Impact Event > Supervolcano > Nuclear War

Originally Posted by Azog 150

My dad recommended me the book a few months ago, but I never got round to reading it. I plan to read the book before seeing the film.

Definitely do if you can. However if you want to see it in the cinema don't wait, it bombed in the US and won't be in theatres for long.

Originally Posted by emperorpenguin

I loved it and I loved the book. Really powerful works. Viggo Mortensen deserves an oscar, shame he won't get one because it tanked due to an interfering distributor.

The book and movie never make it clear WHAT caused the apocalypse, it's humanity's reaction which is the focus, seen through the eyes of a man and boy.
That said in order of likelihood I think it was Impact Event > Supervolcano > Nuclear War



Definitely do if you can. However if you want to see it in the cinema don't wait, it bombed in the US and won't be in theatres for long.

I love using my imagination in these kinds of books and films and the minute i watched the film I knew it was a super volcano that caused it. Everything about it pointed that way. If you notice there is ash everywhere and the sky is overloomingly grey. Although it would be much much colder if it was super volcano at that stage I think.

Well one of the scientists who McCarthy consulted for "The Road" said in an interview in Rolling Stone that after that many years following an impact event the sky should be much clearer. He conceded that the grey sky was better from the bleak story point of view though.
Anyway an impact would also cause the ash and grey sky. The earthquakes in the film weren't in the book that I recall....

The movie was very well done, in my opinion, although it failed to achieve the greatness of the book. Here's what I said on Facebook,

"The Road" Review

Before anyone sees this movie, they should go and buy Cormac McCarthy's novel of the same title. It's an amazing read. I loved the book and was very excited for this movie to finally come to a theater near me. Cormac McCarthy novels are extremely unique and it is easy to understand how transferring the literature to the big screen would be an extremely difficult and risky undertaking. The Coen Brothers' adaptation of No Country For Old Men was perhaps the best book-to-movie transition I've seen and after I saw that movie I knew that it would be possible for other McCarthy novels to be made into cinema in the future (let's not consider All The Pretty Horses a good one though!). The Road was a bit of a let down for me, but let me highlight the word, "bit". I didn't dislike the movie but it certainly didn't make as much of an impression on me as the book. Perhaps...nay, definitely, that isn't fair since the book was so great, but I can't help but make the comparisons in that way. The highlight of the movie is definitely Viggo Mortensen. Throughout the movie he was absolutely perfect. What was best about his performance was his face. Yes, his face. He truly looked like a man who for years had been living in a post-apocalyptic world while trying help his son, as well as himself, survive in the worst conditions conceivable. It was as if his face embodied what the whole movie, and book, was about. Nothing he did was overdone in his acting. He was a man in a world lacking in the same and didn't have the stomach for too much emotion. Viggo's dedication to his role has to be spotlighted as well. I read an article about how he starved himself to make himself a frail version of his former self (we all remember his stunning performance in Eastern Promises). Well, I definitely saw that in the movie. In the scene where he and his son bathe you can see his rib cage and his now lanky self. Seeing that made the movie that much more real. I have to be honest, his role with his endless dedication to survival and the safety of his son left me a bit emotional in certain scenes. One thing I was scared of was that The Road would become melodramatic. If anyone reads the book and actually take the time to think about what a person would have to be like in order to survive for so long in the post-apocalypse then they will figure out what kind of person it would take to do all of that. It would take someone like Viggo; A person who doesn't let emotion get the best of him, has attention to detail, is steadfast in his purpose, and will do anything (except eat people) to survive. In this the movie did well. There was only one scene where I felt it tried too much to express emotion, but I was glad The Road did not go too far too often. Actually, there was no often. Most of the emotion was put through Viggo and everything he did was spot-on. There was a bit too much Charlize Theron, another thing I was scared of (the wife's role given more importance). She was sort of a like I felt she was in the book, but at least it wasn't too too much. At times I think the music, even though it was very minimal in its use and composition, took away from the bare feeling of the movie. Nothing emotional ruined the movie for me, though. I've found many others' reviews weird and stupid. Some say it's too depressing. Uhhh...it's a movie about a man and his son in a post-apocalyptic world where there is nothing left of the past world that we know. Also, anyone who has read the book understands that it's VERY depressing. It's a ing Cormac McCarthy book! Idiots. Others keep making comparisons with zombie movies. Why? I don't know. There is one scene where it could MAYBE be considerd PSEUDO-zombie, but it's obvious that they aren't zombies at all and it fits with a story that is...oh yeah...not zombie. Anyone who uses "zombie" and "The Road" in the same review, unless it's criticizing the use of, is an idiot. There were some things that I think the movie could have used. In the book, chapter after chapter was about the daily struggles the man and his boy had to get through. Much of what was discussed in the book about finding food, finding fuel, finding a good spot to camp, finding and maintaining clothing, etc made it very interesting and made me understand how tough and how overly-Spartan one would have to be in order to live and survive in those times. That wasn't shown enough in the movie. Yes, we did see the man and his son find food but at no point did we understand the practicality of it all. The audience knew it was a post-apocalyptic world, but The Road paints a very different portrait of that setting. The world in The Road is bleak and unforgiving. Basically every other post-apocalyptic movie tries to make it look bad but "cool". In no way is The Road that. Audiences appreciate movie characters if they understand better what they're going through. In The Road movie there wasn't enough of that for us to understand how awful and taxing the day-to-day challenges of food, food, food, food, food, clothes, clothes, clothes, shoes, shoes, shoes, etc. would have been. Remember in Cast Away when we saw what little Tom Hanks had and we thought, "Oh, that could be used for ______"? Well, that never really happened in The Road. It wasn't a major thing that was lacking, but it certainly would have helped. The son was very good too. Most of the time in movies the kid actor is way too smart and is a horrible actor. Kodi Smit-McPhee did a fantastic job in his role. He didn't annoy me and that's enough to give him a lot of credit. Basically, The Road is a good movie that comes from an amazing book that doesn't quite live up to it's novel predecessor. That being said, it's most definitely better than average of a movie and I think does enough justice to the book and the story to make it very worth while. The negatives are minor and don't ruin while the positives are major but don't quite reach the excellence I expected. Viggo should definitely be congratulated for his performance.

I started reading McCarthy books about a year ago. I've read No Country For Old Men, The Road, and Blood Meridian. Each one amazed me in its own way.

From reading the book and seeing the movie, I think the world ended because of nuclear war. If I remember correctly, in the book it mentioned something about a bright light and concussions. I think flashes of light were shown in the film too. Whatever happened, though, Viggo knew it was coming. I do remember him filling the bathtub immediately after seeing the flashes. Why? So he could get a supply of water before it could get contaminated.

Originally Posted by Lord Rahl

From reading the book and seeing the movie, I think the world ended because of nuclear war. If I remember correctly, in the book it mentioned something about a bright light and concussions. I think flashes of light were shown in the film too. Whatever happened, though, Viggo knew it was coming. I do remember him filling the bathtub immediately after seeing the flashes. Why? So he could get a supply of water before it could get contaminated.

I have a few problems with the nuclear war theory.
Bright light and concussions? An asteroid impact will cause those, so too will a Supervolcano.
The man didn't know it was coming, no one did, except for Ely, if you believe him.
Filling the bathtub isn't about contamination, if it was nuclear that tub would be contaminated anyway! The bathtub reference will be familiar to anyone who has lived through a hurricane or even a water-workers' strike as I have. We filled our tubs because once the pumps fail you won't be getting any more water.
If it was nuclear why is there no reference ever to radiation poisoning?
If it was a nuclear war why is everywhere burned and not just major cities?
If it was nuclear why are there earthquakes?

Just a few of my thoughts

Great review by the way!

Originally Posted by emperorpenguin

I have a few problems with the nuclear war theory.
Bright light and concussions? An asteroid impact will cause those, so too will a Supervolcano.
The man didn't know it was coming, no one did, except for Ely, if you believe him.
Filling the bathtub isn't about contamination, if it was nuclear that tub would be contaminated anyway! The bathtub reference will be familiar to anyone who has lived through a hurricane or even a water-workers' strike as I have. We filled our tubs because once the pumps fail you won't be getting any more water.
If it was nuclear why is there no reference ever to radiation poisoning?
If it was a nuclear war why is everywhere burned and not just major cities?
If it was nuclear why are there earthquakes?

Just a few of my thoughts

Great review by the way!

Yeah, I understand those points and can't answer all of them. However, Viggo and his family lived somewhere in the northwest USA, I'm 90% sure, and there are no places a supervolcano eruption would be visible from there, or felt. I guess an asteroid or comet makes sense, but such an armageddon seems to cliche for McCarthy (although a nuclear armageddon could fall into that category as well). I think Viggo knew what was coming because he began filling the tub immediately after the flash and concussion as if he knew exactly what to do once the mysterious armageddon began. If he filled the bath tub immediately it wouldn't have (much) nuclear radiation in it. The fallout comes later. Whatever the disaster, Viggo was prepared for it to occur.

But I think it was McCarthy's objective to make the cause of the apocalypse a mystery. The story is about the post-apocalypse and the horrors thereof.

Originally Posted by Future Filmmaker

I drove all over San Antonio looking for the ONE theater that the net said it was playing in, and it had been closed down or something.

That sucks!

I hate reading people write reviews saying the movie sucked because it's depressing. Saying something is depressing isn't a review. It's an emotion.

Originally Posted by emperorpenguin

I have a few problems with the nuclear war theory.
Bright light and concussions? An asteroid impact will cause those, so too will a Supervolcano.

IIRC, the book mentioned several concussions, no?

The man didn't know it was coming, no one did, except for Ely, if you believe him.

Which doesn't exclude war as an option

Filling the bathtub isn't about contamination, if it was nuclear that tub would be contaminated anyway!

Not necessarily. Filling the tub for water in any emergency - war or otherwise - is a grand idea!

If it was nuclear why is there no reference ever to radiation poisoning?

Rad poisoning isn't really as prevalent an issue as people might think. Contamination/fallout, and even being in the vicintiy of a nuclear explosion are not necessarily fatal. Even a regular old house is somewhat protected from radiation.

If it was a nuclear war why is everywhere burned and not just major cities?

Nukes start fires, fires spread...

If it was nuclear why are there earthquakes?

If there were a large number of nukes used, there is a decent probabilty that they would have an impact on seismic activity, and residual aftereffects on tectonic plates, etc.

I lean towards the nuke-scenario...I've always been a fan of that genre.

Originally Posted by OTZ

IIRC, the book mentioned several concussions, no?.

Yes, not sure what you mean by this......

Which doesn't exclude war as an option

I never said it did. I just said the man wasn't aware what had happened, merely that "it" was bad, very, very bad.

Not necessarily. Filling the tub for water in any emergency - war or otherwise - is a grand idea!

Which was what I already said

Rad poisoning isn't really as prevalent an issue as people might think. Contamination/fallout, and even being in the vicintiy of a nuclear explosion are not necessarily fatal. Even a regular old house is somewhat protected from radiation.

But they make people ill, lose hair & teeth, bleed etc.

Nukes start fires, fires spread...

Across ENTIRE continents and MOUNTAIN chains!? Nukes target cities and strategic targets. If Russia spread all its nukes out evenly across the US instead of at their assigned targets you still could not burn all the land. However the molten ejecta from an impact event would get into the stratosphere before raining back down again globally - fire everywhere. Pretty damn scary.

If there were a large number of nukes used, there is a decent probabilty that they would have an impact on seismic activity, and residual aftereffects on tectonic plates, etc.

There is no evidence of this at all. We do know that a VEI8 Super-eruption or impact event would cause powerful earthquakes however.

I drove all over San Antonio looking for the ONE theater that the net said it was playing in, and it had been closed down or something.

Maybe it is some type of tectonic distaster.

just finished movie. yeah the sky is ALWAYS cloudy, it's almost always raining. But, as much as we'd like to know why, it doesnt matter.

Good movie, and anywho, i'm off to slit my wrists. toodles.

there were a bunch of us waiting for this movie, and then bam release day and its only playing in a handful a theaters. One month later it finally comes around and by the time I get to seeing it with all the other movies out it had already disappeared from theaters.

Well I have the book I still have yet to read...

Well that was a massive let down. The movie could have been so much better. The high point was seeing Omar from The Wire robbing them, only thing he was missing was his shotgun.

Originally Posted by Lord Rahl

However, Viggo and his family lived somewhere in the northwest USA, I'm 90% sure, and there are no places a supervolcano eruption would be visible from there, or felt. I guess an asteroid or comet makes sense, but such an armageddon seems to cliche for McCarthy (although a nuclear armageddon could fall into that category as well). I think Viggo knew what was coming because he began filling the tub immediately after the flash and concussion as if he knew exactly what to do once the mysterious armageddon began. If he filled the bath tub immediately it wouldn't have (much) nuclear radiation in it. The fallout comes later. .

Well the Northwest USA would be near enough to see and definitely feel Yellowstone if it blew.
However the character isn't from the northwest. The maps in the film clearly show the southeast coast of the US and the book mentions they are near Rock City in Georgia.

The bath tub would fill with fallout after being filled, a bog standard house wouldn't keep it out.
The point of the bath tub was to show that The Man is a survivor. Trust me I've filled my tub before for drinking water, it's basic common sense in any emergency.

Originally Posted by The Man Who Sold The World

Well that was a massive let down. The movie could have been so much better. The high point was seeing Omar from The Wire robbing them, only thing he was missing was his shotgun.

I really liked his portrayal of the thief. Made me feel for his character where I just didn't in the book.

Originally Posted by emperorpenguin

I really liked his portrayal of the thief. Made me feel for his character where I just didn't in the book.

Aye. I did feel quite bad as well, but then they left him some clothes and food so that basically wrecked the whole incident.

Originally Posted by Future Filmmaker

I almost never read books before movies. It completely biases the experience. I try hard to keep the comparisons of the two separate from my perspective of the movie as they are two completely different mediums.

Well, the book came before the movie. If a movie is based on a book, I always recommend reading the book first. Doing so may bias opinion but I don't think that's inherently a bad thing. Yes, they're two different mediums, but unless the movie has a noticeably different take on the book, making comparisons will be inherent to the viewer (if they read the book).

Take No Country For Old Men, a Coen Brothers movie based on another amazing McCarthy book, for example. The movie is the best book-to-movie adaptation I've seen and the movie, I dare say, was as good as the book, even with it staying unbelievably faithful to the book.

And then there is Jurassic Park. It had more in common with Crichton's The Lost World than Jurassic Park and had many changes, however, it is an excellent movie despite the many differences between the mediums.

With The Road, it was faithful enough to the book to merit direct comparisons, in my opinion.

Originally Posted by emperorpenguin

Well the Northwest USA would be near enough to see and definitely feel Yellowstone if it blew.

Oops, I didn't mean the northwest. I thought it was in the northeast. Good for me making myself look stupid.

However the character isn't from the northwest. The maps in the film clearly show the southeast coast of the US and the book mentions they are near Rock City in Georgia.

I don't remember that reference in the book but I'll take your word for it. Anyway, if they were in the northeast or southeast, then they wouldn't be able to see or feel a supervolcano immediately.

The bath tub would fill with fallout after being filled, a bog standard house wouldn't keep it out.

It's my understanding that, whatever the disaster that Viggo could see, it was pretty far away.

The point of the bath tub was to show that The Man is a survivor. Trust me I've filled my tub before for drinking water, it's basic common sense in any emergency.

I agree about Viggo being a survivor. He was...a BEAST. The best part of the movie.

I really liked his portrayal of the thief. Made me feel for his character where I just didn't in the book.

I didn't really feel for anyone in the book. The Man only had one objective: to protect his son and make sure the son would survive once he died.

Originally Posted by The Man Who Sold The World

Aye. I did feel quite bad as well, but then they left him some clothes and food so that basically wrecked the whole incident.

They didn't do that in the book, if I remember correctly. I think they left him naked.