The Road

Eine im Rahmen des Möglichen sensible und angemessene Adaption von Cormac McCarthys Kurzgeschichte. Faktum ist, dass das, was sich in der Vorlage irgendwo auf die schwer fassbaren Höhen von "Göttlichkeit", "Mitgefühl" und "Menschlichkeit" bezog, im Film logischerweise am Schlamm und Staub im Film haften bleibt. Doch meiner Meinung hätte man das ganze gar nicht viel besser und rauer drehen können - lediglich ein größerer Zusammenhalt würde dem zweifellos nicht schaden. (24.04.2010)

Ein trauriger und schöner Film. Eine langsam und sensibel erzählte Geschichte vom Weg von zwei wehrlosen Personen in einer Welt ohne Menschlichkeit. In einer Welt, in der ich sie nicht allein lassen wollte und sie beschützen wollte. Der ausgezeichnete Mortensen, der phänomenale Duvall, eine höllisch düstere Szene und ein schönes, allgegenwärtiges Klaviermotiv. Der bisher zweite Zuwachs (nach Shutter Island) in meiner diesjährigen Top-10-Liste. (03.05.2010)

Hillcoat certainly didn't do badly here and in fact, I can't imagine if McCarthy’s book could have been adapted more faithfully. However, like the Coen brothers, the film is brought down by the poor rewrite that simplified some passages for the film medium, and cut others, and yet added nothing of its own. I appreciate the austere work with images, which doesn't push the viewer into the popular post-apocalyptic depression, but rather strums on grimly sad strings, like the musician Nick Cave. Regardless, I’m glad Hillcoat had the balls to film it the way he did. On the other hand, the aftertaste of uselessness cannot be repelled, at least in my case. Seven thumbs up out of ten. I think I'll go to the movies. I’m afraid of Blood Meridian. (24.01.2010)

For most of the runtime I had decided on a 100% rating, but the last few minutes belong to a completely different film. When it comes to the portrayal of a post-apocalyptic future, The Road leaves all the modern competition way behind. Only the old British film Threads can be compared in terms of the intensity of the despair and depression. The Road is a strong argument for those who claim that I Am Legend and Carriers are not particularly good films. 9/10 (13.01.2010)

The most catastrophic commercial for Coca-Cola. McCarthy’s The Road stands on atmosphere, and so it was extremely important that no one scene should stick out, like in the book, so that a month later you have no memory of anything specific that happened, only of the atmosphere of cruel despair, ruin; a world where trusting your nearest and dearest is a synonym for criminal naivety. A memory of the atmosphere that gets under your skin, an atmosphere that will stay with you long after you leave the movie theatre. All it takes is somebody coughing on the bus, the sight of a discarded beer can and there you are again - up to your ears in depression. I don’t want to pretend that this is flawless. It isn’t. I could find quite a lot of things to criticize here, but everything fades in the shade of THAT atmosphere and the very end, where you find out straight away who has what perspective of the world (you know: is the glass half-full or half empty?). That dulls the edges of any of its negative aspects. Mainly that it’s fragmentary and everything else that the book suffers from. Yes, you heard me right, although I really like The Road, I don’t rate it among McCarthy’s top works. It isn’t even his most atmospheric works. P.S.: But this is one of those pointless adaptations. It’s an illustration, one to one scale, nothing more. I really had expected the director to cut deeper and defy the “canon" of the book, while still remaining faithful to it. Here, everything is down to the book, and nothing comes “out of Hillcoat". That’s why I give it four. (15.01.2010)