The Road ***½ (2009, Viggo Mortensen, Kodi Smit-McPhee) – Classic Movie Review 3,784

Viggo Mortensen and Kodi Smit-McPhee give impeccable performances under difficult grungy circumstances as a father and son at the end of the road, in the bleak but distinguished 2009 apocalyptic drama film The Road, based on the novel by Cormac McCarthy. 

Viggo Mortensen and Kodi Smit-McPhee (aged 13) give impeccable performances under extremely difficult grungy circumstances as a father and son at the end of the road, in the quite bleak but distinguished 2009 apocalyptic drama film The Road, based on the 2005 novel by Cormac McCarthy.

As the duo try to survive by any means possible, some will find The Road way too dour, downbeat and depressing. But this is still a really good movie – very well done by the actors, cinematographer Javier Aguirresarobe and director John Hillcoat (The Proposition).

Robert Duvall, Guy Pearce, Molly Parker, Garret Dillahunt, Michael Kenneth Williams and Charlize Theron help the two stars out with effective, totally non-starry cameos. But Mortensen really is a presence to reckon with and he claims it commandingly as his film.

The Road (2009) is based on the 2005 novel by Cormac McCarthy, author of the 1992 novel for the Western film All the Pretty Horses (2000) and the screenplay for The Counsellor (2013). No Country for Old Men (2005) and Child of God (2013) have also been adapted into films.

Cormac McCarthy (July 20, 1933 – June 13, 2023) wrote 12 novels, two plays, five screenplays, and three short stories, in the Western and post-apocalypse genres. He died of natural causes at his home in Santa Fe, aged 89. Stephen King said he was ‘maybe the greatest American novelist of my time. He was full of years and created a fine body of work.’

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 3,784

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