Word: mortensens
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...great Robert Duvall) who considers death a luxury. Bands of cannibals rule the land, favoring children as meals. It's hopeless except for, as in McCarthy's book, the driving force of the narrative: a father's fierce devotion to his child. "The child is the warrant," Mortensen tells us in voice-over, the only reason for being...
...enough? McCarthy's writing has always been a manly affair, so it made sense that he reduced his world to father and son, with the Man emerging heroic. Here, when the Man speaks of carrying "the fire," i.e., the conviction of humanity, it rings more hollow, even though Mortensen grapples well with the potential corniness of that line (he gives a somber, deeply affecting performance). The wasteland that surrounds them--the sun's fire extinguished, the forests burning--makes forcing someone you love to endure it seem like a selfish act. "I don't want to just survive," the Woman...
Director John Hillcoat and actor Viggo Mortensen have both made their names with dark, gritty films: Hillcoat with Nick Cave-scripted Western “The Proposition,” Mortensen with a pair of David Cronenberg thrillers, “A History of Violence” and “Eastern Promises.” It is tempting, then, to suggest that with “The Road,” a bleak, post-apocalyptic travelogue, both men are sticking to what they know...
...Road” is the story of a nameless father (Mortensen) and son (Kodi Smit-McPhee) traveling across the devastated remains of an American continent that has experienced a disaster—of unknown origin—that wiped out the vast majority of the population. Endlessly searching for food and hunted by bands of cannibals, the two make their way toward the coast, where the father believes they may find safety and other “good” people...
...Prize winning novel by Cormac McCarthy—fits comfortably into a dark and atmospheric genre of post-disaster film that has recently included such uninspired schlock as “I Am Legend,” it is also quite unlike the films that have preceded it, including Mortensen and Hillcoat’s previous efforts. Eschewing narrative conventions, at least to the extent that big-budget Oscar bait can afford to do so, “The Road” maintains enough of the book’s central story to keep its audience enthralled while splitting...