The Road(2009)- User Reviews

Once upon a time movies were based upon somewhat realistic or even somewhat plausible scenarios. Unfortunately decades ago the powers-that-be in Hollywood who command the money flow seized most of the artistic control. In their relentless pursuit of profits they have burnt through most of their cash-cow pre-scripted formulas & clichés. In their desperation, this now includes comic book heroes & villains to the Nth degree. Don’t get me wrong I loved the Matrix franchise! The down side has been, it’s surreal reality has been mimicked by 100 some odd movies which have no context to include antigravity stunts, stop-motion 360 degree pans to exaggerate super human abilities, to suck up multiple rounds in the gut, then to just get up and shake it off like it just kind of hurts. What the hell people?????Wake up! We’ve all been conditioned (trained) by the media to think this is what we need in all of our entertainment. Looking over the Yahoo reviews of this movie is like observing a collective sociological footprint of America. Almost completely biased one way or the other, hate it or love it, black or white! Which is rather comical as this “The Road” was filmed in near grayscale. On one side you have people who can still think for themselves (have some imagination), don’t need the storyline spoon fed to them (explanations for the Armageddon), can process the movie’s pacing without the typical 300 action packed ADHD satisfying 5 second cut-scenes! Then on the other hand you have the other group of individuals. Well to be blunt, you just don’t get it and sadly probably never will! This movie doesn’t seem realistic, it feels real! If you were to watch this movie in a commercial theater, or a light limited home theater you might agree. The cause of the calamity is irrelevant, time offers a limitless list of Life Extermination Level possibilities for Earth. Be it man made, extraterrestrial (Meteors, not little green men!), volcanoes, microbes, etc. It could play out rather quickly, but most likely just like this movie depicts. Without sunshine, vegetation along with the entire ecosystem goes belly-up. Wild game (and domestic pets) that are still alive will be consumed by humans is sort order, in months or less. The air and water may well be toxic! Food, water, clothing, shelter, pharmacological drugs (antibiotics), and fuels will run out, and on and on!Society has in the past, and will again break down in the aftermath of said event(s). Viewing The Road made me feel like I had just edited a documentary that I had somehow filmed of these poor unfortunate survivors of the SHTF end of days.Non-commercialized, non-polished, gritty, with ZERO warm fuzzy Disney #$%$ pasted in to please the crowd. Just the raw deal, with all of the emotional damage, the constant threat of horrible demise, the relentless fear and accompanying paranoia, and the uneasy feeling of slowly slipping into madness or suicide from the lack of any normalcy left in life! This is not a fun, nor pleasant Movie, it was carefully crafted not to be! It does intermingle with genius at times on what it does and doesn’t’ deliver, and what is left out is left to the viewer’s imagination. Many times in life, the want is better than the have! And this Movie gives it in spades!