The Rover – Review by Frances Winston

Directed by: David Michod

Starring: Guy Pearce, Robert Pattison, Scoot McNairy

In cinemas August 15th

A lone stranger enters a bar and helps himself to a drink. It sounds like the opening of any of the classic westerns but this movie is in fact set in Australia not too far in the future, a decade after a global economic collapse. This isn’t immediately clear but becomes evident as the movie unfolds.

That stranger is Guy Pearce. We never learn his characters name but you immediately know that he is a man with a purpose. Pearce has a commanding screen presence which is just as well since he carries most of this movie. While he is in the aforementioned bar, three criminals steal his car after they crash theirs following a bungled robbery. Where most people would leave it be he manages to get their car moving and begins to pursue them in order to get his vehicle back. When he stops off to ask if anyone has seen them and a young man called Rey (Pattison) questions him as to why he is driving his brother’s truck he realises that he could lead him to the thieves and the pair become unlikely travelling companions. Along the way they have several erratic encounters with other displaced souls and the army and they form a tenuous bond before they finally stumble upon the house where Rey’s brother and his accomplices are hiding out.

A futuristic Australian landscape and a lone vigilante may draw comparisons to Mad Max but this is a very different animal. While there is some action it is not in your face and on the whole it is left to Pearce and Pattison to carry the movie. While Pattison is to be commended for taking on a role that shows him at his physical worst and he does an OK job playing the somewhat mentally stunted Rey this is really Pearce’s movie. He is an amazing actor and there are many scenes here where he has no dialogue and simply moves you with his eyes. You get a sense of his hopelessness and heaviness about him long before you know any of his character’s back story.

Indeed I would go so far as to say that his performance elevates Pattisons to a level it may not have reached without having him to bounce off. The pair’s relationship as they begin to bond is truly touching to watch and ultimately they have some lovely scenes together.

The landscape here is bleak and desolate and at times this does make the movie seem rather tedious. On the whole not a lot happens and there are definitely segments that feel too long. Overall you could shave around 20 minutes off this and still have a solid film. However, thanks to Pearce it remains watchable, although the ending when it comes is slightly anti climatic.

Gritty and dark this won’t leave you with a smile on your face and will be a touch too “artsy” for some people but despite this it is a solid enough movie and worth watching if just for Guy Pearce’s masterclass in acting.