The Road (2009)

In a post-apocalyptic world in a near future, a man and his young son wander heading to South seeking good people through destroyed roads. Along their journey, they hide themselves from cannibal survivors and seek supplies in the debris of houses and stores. They have one revolver with two shells for self-protection or for an ultimate decision of committing suicide. The man recalls the good moments of his life with his wife and begins to lose his humanity while his son pushes him to help and old man and a thief. When they reach the beach, the boy has to decide his fate.

THE ROAD is a mostly quiet, ever somber and extremely bleak journey of 2 people struggling to survive in a world gone awry. (Much of this looks like it was shot in PA. In fact, one of the end sequences was shot in my neck of the woods at Conneaut Lake Park. You'll see a large, broken sign.) There's no sun, no vegetation, and essentially no food. One thing there's plenty of is cannibalism but that's mostly hinted at rather than shown. There are several "GOTCHA" moments that will make your heart race, but THE ROAD is more about the will to survive and what being human means rather than trying to gross you out or to scare you. I think many people looking for a horror film or thriller will stagger out of the theater like those scavenging for food in the movie but for the rest of us there is plenty to gnaw on. BOTTOM LINE: Stays on the path leading to good entertainment. Everyone that knows me knows that post-apocalyptic is my favorite category for a movie!

Get ready for a gruesome, dreary, dark, depressing, sad, horrific, gut wrenching glimpse of post apocalyptic life in the not too distant future. I haven't read the book so I have no baseline other than what the film offered. Acting is excellent. Cinematography is excellent. It is basically a journey from point A to point B keeping an eye open for cannibals passing along the roads. I had a hard time believing all life on Earth had been wiped out except for rag-tag bands of humans with nothing at all left to eat. The film delivers a message and will briefly open your eyes to how good our lives are and what we all take for granted.


****/*****

4/5 Stars