The Rover (2014)

[K1stpierre]

Discuss

[darkelf]

A really good suspenseful movie with good direction and great performances.

 

8/10

[Jake Gittes]

Probably will end up one of the more underrated films of the year. I sat down to watch it with the ~60% RT rating in the back of my mind, not expecting anything exceptional (even though I'd loved Michod's Animal Kingdom) and this movie basically punched me in the face in retort. A bleak, brutal, cold-blooded study in what happens when it becomes essentially pointless for people to connect and get close to one another. Reminded me more of Cormac McCarthy's prose than of any specific films - Michod actually seems like a filmmaker who could try to adapt Blood Meridian and be at least somewhat successful. Pearce is as great as he usually is, and Pattinson continues to surprise - he maintains a nervous, live-wire energy throughout that makes his character a polar opposite of the one he played in Cosmopolis. 

[kitik]

Australia: no one gets out alive

[JohnnyGossamer]

Probably will end up one of the more underrated films of the year. I sat down to watch it with the ~60% RT rating in the back of my mind, not expecting anything exceptional (even though I'd loved Michod's Animal Kingdom) and this movie basically punched me in the face in retort. A bleak, brutal, cold-blooded study in what happens when it becomes essentially pointless for people to connect and get close to one another. Reminded me more of Cormac McCarthy's prose than of any specific films - Michod actually seems like a filmmaker who could try to adapt Blood Meridian and be at least somewhat successful. Pearce is as great as he usually is, and Pattinson continues to surprise - he maintains a nervous, live-wire energy throughout that makes his character a polar opposite of the one he played in Cosmopolis. 

Hear, hear, Gittes. The Rover and, knowing your taste to this forum I assume you've seen, The Proposition, capture the sensibilities of McCarthy's prose more so than anything aside from the Coen's No Country. I believe Nick Cave was very inspired/influenced by McCarthy when he penned the screenplay for The Proposition. But, yeah, everyone talked about Hesher. I'd like to pretend that never happened think only of Animal Kingdom and The Rover. Agree without hesitation that The Rover was MUCH better than I expected. Pattinson, Pearce and McNairy really impress. Just vacant morality presented unflinchingly. A real gut-punch indeed.

B+/A-

[JohnnyGossamer]

On a slightly separate note, just an awesome year for A24 Distribution in the US for the year 2014. Holy shit I've loved their output. Locke, The Rover, Enemy, Under The Skin. Really liking the films they've jumped on. May not have banked much but, in my view, that company has elite taste. Going to definitely keep my eye on 'em.

[Jake Gittes]

Proposition is one of my favorites though I saw it before I read any McCarthy. I can see the similarities but back then I thought it was inspired first and foremost by Heart of Darkness/Apocalypse Now. Pearce's journey is very similar.

Edited October 15, 2014 by Jake Gittes

[mattmav45]

What we have here is a man and his quest for his damn car.

 

Such a simple premise here may sound ridiculous, but rest assured that is far from the problem here.  Many of my favorite films center around a very simple, ludicrous premise such as what is on display here.  Inject some atmosphere, character, and style into a simple premise and you just may have something special.  Unfortunately, such is not the case here.

 

If there's one thing that usually be depended on regarding Australian film-making it would have to be their ability to enhance the proceedings with a dystopian landscape.  Unfortunately, that doesn't really come to fruition here.  Granted, there are some damn cool shots of the terrain along with some sunset shots, but that alone does not constitute an atmosphere.  This is a film that should have thrived and breathed off the atmosphere of the surroundings.  Such was not allowed to happen.

 

I felt the score in particular was a deterrent to the film.  Ideally the film would have had ample atmosphere and a complementing score that merely enhanced the proceedings in a natural manner.  Instead, I felt the tunes here were too brash and loud for the subject material at hand here.  Let the atmosphere drive and control, not the music.  Once again, such was not allowed to happen.

 

At the core of the film's problems has to be the story itself.  I've already mentioned the failure to establish the atmosphere, but this is accentuated when story tries to be very minimal in its approach.  A minimal approach like this simply can't work without supplementing atmosphere and style.  Unfortunately, I felt no such aspects.

 

My least favorite aspect of this film has to be the character of Rey played by Robert Pattinson.  It wasn't really a bad acting performance, but I'll be a bit frank here and just say that Rey annoyed the fuck out of me as a character.  Seemingly implanted to provide some pathos to the film, but it feels very manufactured and superficial in nature.  This all leads up to the inexplicable ending.  Not only does it not really make any sense, but once again it seems to exist merely to provide some pathos to the film.  Not a fan of manipulative devices such as this.

 

Simply put......manipulative and middling as fuck.

[Jake Gittes]

What about the ending doesn't make sense?

[mattmav45]

If the whole film is the quest of Eric to find his car so he can bury his dog, why then does he go with Rey into the house once they locate the car?  The car was sitting outside the house early in the morning and could have been taken quite easily.  Were the keys in the house?  If so that makes more sense, but I distinctly remember the car being stolen by way of a wiring job.  Thus, Eric should still of had the keys on him if they existed.

 

I understand they are trying to show that Eric made a human connection with Rey and that he feels the need to protect him, but the whole scene just felt off to me.  Going into the house and holding the gang at gun point didn't really serve any purpose other than allowing an outlet for Rey to get killed. 

 

I can understand how some may like this quite a bit, but for me I was constantly reminded of the fact that there are bigger and better atmospheric dystopian action flicks to be had.

[Jake Gittes]

Well, Rey = the dog. And like the dog, he develops a connection with Eric and subsequently needs to die to reinforce the film's main theme. I understand that you could find the way he was killed forced if you hadn't been onboard before that, but for me it worked well enough that I never questioned it.

[mattmav45]

Perhaps "didn't make sense" isn't the best way to put it.  This is the kind of film in which you need to buy into the atmosphere and associating characters, and it just didn't work for me.

[4815162342]

Very effective and bleak movie, but when it ended my first thought was 
 

"Why didn't he just tell them at the beginning his dead dog was in the trunk and he wanted to bury it?" I get he was a very private, insular person but still, if the dog is worth to you chasing three guys hundreds of miles into the Outback over, you might want to mention that fact upfront.

Edited October 18, 2014 by 4815162342

[The Stingray]

I knew it would be good, but I didn't think it would blow me away like it did. Near-masterpiece, and the most underrated movie of the year, as far as I'm concerned.

[DeeCee]

It was well made but a bit underwhelming for me. I just didn't entirely buy into it and little things bugged me along the way.

Edited December 30, 2014 by DeeCee

[Plain Old Tele]

Wonderful, effective bleak little movie. Makes more sense metaphorically than logically, but since when did we humans operate on logic alone?