Finally, one of the latest Hollywood trends is something I’m into. I’ve explored the recurrent vampire crazes and torture porn and westerns and musicals, gotten what I could out of those. The one I’m really into is the post-apocalyptic survival. I could watch my favorite stars gather supplies all day long.
Review: The Road
The Road has some beautiful wreckage along the way, striking shots of burnt out forests and some boats beached on a highway! You can definitely tell the world has been spent when these folks are slugging along.
The supplies are not as plentiful as perhaps in movies like I Am Legend where he still had half of New York to go through, or Dawn of the Dead where they had a whole shopping mall. Yet the little treasures are delightful. By the time they get a new cart, awww man, that’s the stuff.
It’s not an action movie per se, although I suppose the nature of a distant journey makes it action/adventure. There are suspenseful moments like finding dangerous people or the threat of getting discovered by healthier mobs. The best action is still the looking for supplies though.
This is the unglamorous apocalypse too. No Will Smith abs glistening with sweat. These people are starving. They eat bugs if they have to. Some of them dribble food out because they can’t even swallow anymore. They suffer from their unmedicated ailments. It may not be pretty, but it’s a view of the apocalypse that fascinates me all the same.
The point of the story ends up being about one’s values and morals in this world. Personally, I don’t judge. I’m just here for the supplies, but if you want to wonder where the line between survival and compassion is, and when you need to look out for number one, it’s in there too.
Add to Heffee!
