The Rover – Movie Review

Director: David Michôd

Writers: Joel Edgerton (story), David Michôd (screenplay), 1 more credit »

Stars: Guy Pearce, Robert Pattinson, Scoot McNairy

This film is set ten years after the global economic collapse. So, what’s changed I hear you ask? Well, we never get the exact details but the world is a different place. They still trade with money, but many insist on US dollars. The rule of law is almost entirely broken down and the military travel around in armoured cars with machine guns at the ready. In truth, the outback in Australia wouldn’t look too different after any type of apocalypse, so it’s hard to know what actually fell apart or went boom.

We meet Eric (Guy Pearce) when he stops his car and goes to a lonely bar playing loud music. He sits and drinks, looking into the middle distance. Through the window behind him we see a car crash. The occupants of the car are fleeing the scene of an unspecified crime and see Eric’s car and steal it as their own is incapacitated. Eric is left without his only possession and tries to chase down the culprits. He meets the brother of one of the robbers, Ray (Pattinson) who was left to die at the scene of the crime. Eric forces Ray to take him to his brother. This starts the uneasy relationship between Ray and Eric, which twists and turns on this road trip through a post apocalyptic outback.

This is a movie with space. There are long scenes where very little happens, but it all looks just so good. The cinematography is exquisite and the sound track should keep any hipsters in the audience happy. It features tracks from Tortoise, William Basinski and Colin Stetson to name but a few, and it works wonderfully well with the long scenes of trucks driving through the open landscape. It’s a film with many quiet scenes and these serve to make the explosions of violence all the more intense. The ending of the film are the only moments that stop this from being a classic. It fades away with a resolution I did not enjoy. Otherwise there are few things to fault. The performance of Pearce is at the core of the film, and he’s very impressive as a moody loner. If Pattinson makes a few more like this, I might even forgive him for the Twilight films!

Soundtrack features…