BEFORE: OK, I didn't get to "Slap Shot" or "The Fighter" or (ick) "The Blind Side" - so there are sports films yet unwatched. Seeing as I don't have copies of those films on hand, I'm moving on. Follow-ups are just SO 2013. The idea here was that "Rollerball" (the first one, anyway) portrayed sort of a dystopian future, so it's my link to other films of that nature that I wasn't able to get to in my end-of-the-world chain late last year. For linking tonight, we turn to Rebecca Romijn from "Rollerball", who was also in "X-Men" with Ian McKellen, who was also in the "Lord of the Rings" films with Viggo Mortensen (last seen in "Carlito's Way").
THE PLOT: A post-apocalyptic tale of a man and his son trying to survive by any means possible.
AFTER: Gah, I'm split down the middle on this one. First thought is, how depressing! The future portrayed here is one just a few years after some kind of cataclysmic event, either man-made or natural (the movie doesn't explain) and without plant growth or animal life, the few remaining humans are forced to wander the world with their possessions, seeking out what little food and fuel remains.
Second thought is, well, maybe this is what people today NEED to see - to prompt further efforts to recycle and conserve our resources, so that we don't use up what the planet offers and choke out the sun with our greenhouse gases. On the first day of summer where the temperature hit 93 in NYC today (and after a mild winter and an extremely warm spring), it gets easier to believe in the global warming. Furthermore, take good care of yourself, get lots of sleep, and cherish whatever time you have left on this planet with your loved ones.
Then I kind of swing back the other way and have a bad reaction to the preachiness of it all. Plus, I'm forced to analyze whether the events presented to me tonight form a coherent and enjoyable film, because after all, that's why I'm doing this. For the most part, the answer is "No". It's certainly not enjoyable, though it is edgy and dark and suspenseful, it's not generally the kind of entertainment that I seek out to umm, be entertained by.
Beyond that, let's examine the coherency, or lack thereof. Is there a coherent beginning, middle and end to it all? Again, I'm not sure. The beginning gets a little caught up in the flashbacks of "the event", without cluing us in on what the event is. It might be fire-related - solar flares? Urban riots? And it's something that blocked out the sun and turned the world gray - a meteorite? Nuclear winter? Where one person might appreciate the air of mystery, I choose to see a screenwriting shortcut. No, don't give us the facts, because they'll only confuse us.
Then we come to the logistics of it all. Could people survive in a gray world with no plant life, and just the stores of canned food that were already on the shelves? How long before people resort to looting and cannibalism? Based on current news reports of cannibal-related crimes, I'd guess about three minutes.
On top of the preachiness, there's the use of very obvious metaphor. The road is not just the path to the coast, it's the road of life, which we all travel. And who we meet on the road and how we treat them determines our fate, and whether or not we reach our destination. I worked on a short film back in the day that took place in an elevator, and the symbolism was just as simplistic - we're all traveling up, up in to eternity, and some people are already on the elevator when we enter, and some get off before us when they reach their floor, but our journey continues. Umm, until it doesn't. You get the idea.
I suppose you can get into the boy representing the best aspects of humanity, like having a positive outlook and trusting others, whereas the father represents some of the worst aspects, since he's paranoid all the time and generally mistrustful. But who's to say which is the more appropriate reaction to the collapse of civilization? I don't feel comfortable making that call.
Also starring Charlize Theron (last seen in "The Italian Job"), Kodi Smit-McPhee, Robert Duvall (last seen in "Days of Thunder"), with cameos from Guy Pearce (last seen in "The Hard Word"), Molly Parker (last seen in "The Good Shepherd").
RATING: 4 out of 10 shopping carts
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