Movie Review: THE ROVER

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Guy Pearce and Robert Pattinson star in director David Michod’s (Animal Kingdom) new film, The Rover.

The film takes place in what seems to be the near-future of Australia, ten years after “the Collapse”; whatever that means, the audience will have to speculate. The setting is a hot and dusty desert land, speckled with run-down houses and populated with cruel and hardened people. Pearce’s character—who is credited as ‘Eric’ though I don’t recall his name ever being mentioned in the film—is no exception. His rage is unleashed when three men steal his car after crashing their own. They are in a hurry, running from something, all carrying guns and one of them is wounded.

After they have fled Eric begins his pursuit of them to reclaim his only remaining possession. Along the way he comes across Rey (Pattinson), the badly wounded and babbling younger brother of one of the three men Eric is after. He takes him along so that Rey might show him the way to his brother, but gets more than he bargained for in doing so.
Throughout the vengeance-fueled trip there are many lives to be taken and one very unusual relationship to be formed. In this understated film one gets to look deeply into the hearts of two very different men who are brought together.

While I enjoyed many aspects of The Rover I believe the strongest is its characters. They are rounded and complex, and are brought to heartbreaking life by their respective actors. Guy Pearce’s gives a scathing performance as the antihero and Pattinson really outdoes himself in his role. One may find it hard to look past his embarrassing association with the Twilight series, but he truly is a talented actor, which he proves one again in The Rover.

The story is pretty vague the whole way through, and much is left to interpretation of the audience. This, however, is not something I mind—as long as it is properly executed. I like it when a director makes their audience work for their movie, rather than hand it to them on a silver platter. The Rover takes a lot of prying and a bit of imagination, as well.
The cinematography is sweeping and gorgeous, muted by the drabness of the Australian outback, which becomes a living set. While I have seen no other films of Michod, if this is any example of the rest of his work I will surely be on the watch.