David Michod is a great director, but he's a bad storyteller, a trait that ruined his first film as well. The Rover has some great cinematography, but a poorly-told story. It isn't that the overall plot is bad, but it's mishandled.
Guy Pearce is at times almost without an heartbeat, and at others times superbly on point, harking back to his unwashed role in The Proposition. Robert Pattinson is very good (and the best actor of the lot in this film).
The Australian outback is used quite well, but Michod never allows the audience to feel the desolate open spaces. The film has a rushed feel to it, even though there is at times too much empty space between the characters. The editing omits too much of the little details that make up an absorbing film for it to be truly effective.
The long shots and sparse dialogue both succeed and fail at different times. When it works it's fantastic, but when it fails, it's maddeningly frustrating.
The way Michod chooses to portray relationships in The Rover is at times unrealistic and stilted. He may have been going to for a particular style, but it's unnatural and feels forced, as if the actor's weren't given sufficient direction, and so they're at times left floundering.
On thing he does get right is a very Australia style of film, which is welcome and refreshing. While a lot of Aussie films are a bit crap and lack the money required these days to compete with the technical wizardry of Hollywood, quality Australian cinema strips bare the rawest elements of story and character. Hollywood keeps needing more and more glamour and technical wizardry to top it's last effort, but Australian cinema provides a view of an uncompromising and unpredictable land and people, much like the harsh landscape of the continent. Whatever mistakes Michod makes, he does manage to capture the dirty, dusty Australian heartland in a way that says more in it's visuals than in anything spoken.
There's a few moments of excellent sharp dialogue, and some very Australian ways of speaking.
Ultimately its a flawed film that is certainly an experience as much as anything else. The images used & the story told, while not living up to it's full potential, do manage to evoke more thoughts and feelings than any recent 100M$ US flick. I just wish Michod could tell his stories better. He's so close at times, yet far away at others.
Guy Pearce is at times almost without an heartbeat, and at others times superbly on point, harking back to his unwashed role in The Proposition. Robert Pattinson is very good (and the best actor of the lot in this film).
The Australian outback is used quite well, but Michod never allows the audience to feel the desolate open spaces. The film has a rushed feel to it, even though there is at times too much empty space between the characters. The editing omits too much of the little details that make up an absorbing film for it to be truly effective.
The long shots and sparse dialogue both succeed and fail at different times. When it works it's fantastic, but when it fails, it's maddeningly frustrating.
The way Michod chooses to portray relationships in The Rover is at times unrealistic and stilted. He may have been going to for a particular style, but it's unnatural and feels forced, as if the actor's weren't given sufficient direction, and so they're at times left floundering.
On thing he does get right is a very Australia style of film, which is welcome and refreshing. While a lot of Aussie films are a bit crap and lack the money required these days to compete with the technical wizardry of Hollywood, quality Australian cinema strips bare the rawest elements of story and character. Hollywood keeps needing more and more glamour and technical wizardry to top it's last effort, but Australian cinema provides a view of an uncompromising and unpredictable land and people, much like the harsh landscape of the continent. Whatever mistakes Michod makes, he does manage to capture the dirty, dusty Australian heartland in a way that says more in it's visuals than in anything spoken.
There's a few moments of excellent sharp dialogue, and some very Australian ways of speaking.
Ultimately its a flawed film that is certainly an experience as much as anything else. The images used & the story told, while not living up to it's full potential, do manage to evoke more thoughts and feelings than any recent 100M$ US flick. I just wish Michod could tell his stories better. He's so close at times, yet far away at others.