Rating of
2/4
Boring, But With Good Acting
Looneymanthegreat - wrote on 06/22/14
The Rover is frustrating in its illusiveness. It’s one of the more literally pretentious movies, I’ve ever seen. The characters arcs never really seemed fully developed or even existent, and the movies message, if there is even intended to be one, is held at bay by the movie insistent refusal to not be interesting in the least.
The movies characters are poorly defined or stereotypical. This is a forgivable sin, but The Rovers pace is slow and plodding, and never really fluctuates. the result s that the audience has little to do throughout the running time but watch the boring lead characters stair at each other intensely or partake in some of the most boring gunplay sequences you will ever see. Nothing ever builds up; it’s the most ho-hum feeling R- rated post apocalyptic Acton movie you will ever see.
That said the movie is nice to look at. The wide landscaping shots are some of the best I’ve seen so far this year, and the dusty brown look of the movie is reminiscent of other beautifully ugly flicks like The Road.
The Rover is a much better film when you think about it as a showcase for two great actors instead of a narrative film. Guy Pearce is fantastic as usual, but Robert Pattinson is the real stand out. His dumb red neck is very convincing, and shows that he has a chance to rise above his Twilight stardom. I look forward to seeing how Pattinson does in future productions.
Overall I suppose The Rover is okay, but I definitely don’t feel like it was worth the money to go see it in the theater (and I bought a 5 dollar matinee.) It’s boring, dull and generally poorly executed. It’s not quite a waste of 2 hours, but it’s certainly a difficult 2 hours to sit through.
