‘The Road’ takes a wrong turn

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The end. It seems to be on everyone’s mind. Talk of 2012, the year, not the film, continues to abound. The History Channel has its own daily dose of “Nostradamus,” and Hollywood is right in step with the doom chanting. “The Road” is author Cormac McCarthy’s (“No Country for Old Men,” “All the Pretty Horses”) award-winning tale of perseverance and the human spirit. With the Cohen brother’s successful foray into the world of McCarthy (“No Country for Old Men”), it should come as no surprise others would follow suit.

Director John Hillcoat (“The Proposition”) helmed this offering. The bleak desolation of 2005’s “The Proposition” was a good resume builder for this project which follows a father and son (Viggo Mortensen, Kodi Smit-McPhee) as they attempt to survive the cataclysmic event that has plunged mankind into a wasteland.

Father and son, or man and boy, wander a blasted landscape that once was the United States. Their meager belongings are housed in a shopping cart and two small packs. All the while, roaming gangs now terrorize the roadways as they search for the only remaining game: man. Desperate stragglers attempt to forage in the burned-out shells of businesses and homes, all the while avoiding the cannibalistic members of this new society. A constant snow or rain falls on the hapless survivors as they make their way toward the coast, and hope.

It is this hope that the father attempts to instill in the boy. He refers to them as the good guys, for they do no harm to others and do not partake of the cannibalistic ways embraced by so many. Much the way early man told stories around the campfire, so does the man regale the boy with tales of an age he does not remember; a time of electric lights and running water. Now they burn used motor oil and filter water from poisoned streams.

McCarthy has an amazing grasp of the desolate, as well as the hearts of men. This tale was among his finer work and justly received the Pulitzer Prize (Fiction, 2007), Oprah’s stamp and Entertainment Weekly’s honor of “the most important novel of the past 25 years.” Hillcoat managed to take this work and reduce it to a well-casted Lifetime film. Several scenes of dazzling devastation were interspersed among the mostly monotonous footage. For the most part, however, the gray world seemed to boringly overshadow, as opposed to taking its place as the tale’s third character.

Mortensen’s performance was dazzling but, unfortunately he completely overwhelmed his young charge consistently throughout. The casting of top-notch actors in the few speaking roles helped to carry the film at times. Charlize Theron, Robert Duvall and Guy Pearce all perform admirably. Their performances, however, never amount to enough to overcome the poorly directed work. The film’s score further compounded the problem, as it never helped to create tension or enhance the scene. Rather, the amateurish tones seemed to consistently distract.

While there may be accolades for Mortensen, “The Road” fell far short of the mark set by both its author and its predecessors on film. Perhaps this explains the film’s long journey to the theater. Originally slated for an ’08 release, one can opine that these problems delayed its release. Sadly, whatever the reason, it was a road best left untraveled.

Rating: W W 1/2

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