Rating of
2.5/4
A Disappointment
SIngli6 - wrote on 07/06/14
On the surface, The Rover is a winner. It’s beautiful to look at, contains some strong performances, and deals with confronting concepts. But scratch away that surface and what you ultimately have is a slow, empty, aimless picture that mistakes its misanthropy for a profound insight into the human condition. You can watch only so many scenes of people shooting other (often defenceless) people in the face before you question the whole purpose of the endeavour.
The movie’s post-apocalyptic setting, at first intriguing, soon loses its novelty when it becomes clear that the film is more interested in dissecting the impenetrable psyche of its protagonist, played by Guy Pierce, than of finding something interesting to do with the idea of the end of the world. Normally I welcome character studies, but here the main character is so clichéd and one-note (a stoic man-with-no-name who walks the earth) that it seems like a waste of everybody’s time to explore how his mind works. Pierce makes the best of his material, of course, but he’s still playing an archetype that was old hat decades ago.
Not helping matters is Robert Pattinson, complete with goofy Southern American drawl, tagging along and generally being an imbecile. More often than not you’re as compelled to blow his brains out as Pierce’s character.
Recent Comments
Looneymanthegreat - wrote on 07/06/14 at 12:24 PM CT
The Rover Review comment
I agree that the movie was to slow and plodding to hold up it's weak premise. It's trying to be Nicholas Refn's Drive, but it's only half as deep, and about a fourth as exciting.
