The Road is a post apocalyptic tale where everyday is a fight for survival for a man and his son. Cannibalism is rife as there is serious food shortages due to crops and animals dead and survivors are forced to scavenge for food.
Viggo Mortensen and Kodi Smit-McPhee play man and boy respectively. Smit-McPhee was about 13 when the film was made and the book I don't recall was clear in his age, but I'd say he looked younger than 13 anyway.
Both leads were excellent, Mortensen lost a crazy amount of weight for the role and I have to say, looked sickening which I suppose was the point.
Smit-McPhee is an upcoming Australian actor with acting in the genes. His sister is in Hung and his dad is also an bit player in Australian films (including Wolf Creek which I am still yet to see!) and soap/dramas.I thought he did a great job, some of his scenes were heart wrenching and his crying ability was really good and I think realistic.
The film explained some things more explicitly than in book but overall a very faithful adaptation. For example, you get more of a back story of what happened with the man's wife (played by Charlize Theron).
Some scenes were genuinely terrifying i.e. the scene with the emancipated bodies in the downstairs dungeon and there is a state of unease and tension throughout whole movie. I would hate to be the person who wandered into a movie theatre one sunny Saturday and did not have an idea what the film was about.
Charlize Theron in her small part was okay. I'm always a bit dubious of models turning actors but she can actually act, see Monster. Although that opens a whole other can of worms about actors who don prosthetics or go 'ugly' and then win awards (see also Nicole Kidman, The Hours).
I've read on some forums that they thought the film was boring, I'm guessing these are people who haven't read the book, as you know it's not going to be action packed or a laugh a minute.
There was also some criticism of Smit-McPhee's performance.
But even with the despair I would not say it was boring. Sure not a lot happens in the grand scheme of things but as I said earlier there are some truly tense moments and you are really just rooting for the boys to somehow pull through even though it does seem pretty hopeless.
The ending is ambiguous but after the horrors of their journey I chose to think of it as a somewhat good one (I don't think happy can be used appropriately here).
