The Rover movie review

Article by Gabe Zia

Lazy Film Critic reviews...

The Rover is a thriller from David Michôd, the director of Animal Kingdom (a film that deserves way more attention than it gets). It stars Guy Pearce, Robert Pattinson, and Scoot Mcnairy. The film is set about 10 years after a catastrophic global economic collapse, causing society to turn into complete chaos. It follows this guy who's a bit of a drifter, who goes searching for a group of criminals after they steal the only possesion he has left, which is his car.

Guy Pearce in The Rover

Now this film is a bit outside the norm of the usual apocalypse film, as most of those films usually have a lot of action. However, The Rover takes a different stance, and is mostly about the dialogue, and the conversations between these characters. Sure, some guns get fired, but a lot of this story revolves around what these characters are saying, and who they are. Normally a film like this could get a bit boring, however The Rover manages to keep the interest by continuously building suspense with this rich and fully fleshed out characters.

Robert Pattinson in The Rover

However, good character dynamics are nothing without good actors to carry them. Guy Pearce does a great job with the lead role, playing a character who, doesn't really say a lot throughout the film. This performance is mainly in the mannerisms and body language, and with that, Guy Pearce does a fantastic job. However, the real standout here is Robert Pattinson. His performance is not only his best to date, but even I'd say worthy of an oscar nomination. His character, you can tell it isn't exactly an easy role, but he executes it perfectly.

The cinematography in the film is also pretty good, and it captures that kind of apocalyptic tone in a very realistic manner. The way everything is set up makes it all seem very real, and even plausible. Also good here is the soundtrack, which - for the most part - works perfectly for the film and the tone. There is one scene where the music is kind of out of place with the scene, but really that's a nitpick which I can easily let go.

Final Rating
The Rover is a fascinating, dark, well written, well acted and brilliantly executed post apocalyptic film. If you're like me, and you're a fan of Fallout, I'd say go find a way to watch this film as soon as possible, because this is definitely a film for Fallout fans.

The Rover: 4.3/5