Rent The Rover (2014)

Fed-Up Eric Didn't Quite Cut it as a Title - but using my nickname didn't help. - The Rover review by Strovey

If you asked me to succinctly sum up The Rover, and yes I know how ironic that is, I would say it was ‘a realistic Mad Max’. Like the original George Miller dystopian lawless take on a collapsed future, it is set in the dusty abandoned Australian Outback and features a relentless and violent protagonist. The films part ways here though with The Rover giving you Eric, superbly played by the always impressive Guy Pearce, is what you could imagine a character like him would be.

Eric is not interested in conversation, anyone else’s problems, or telling his life story, so basically apart from one small exposition it is left to you, watching, to make your mind up. What has happened to the world, we do not know, we know there is an attempt at law and order but basically where the film is set is worst the Wild West at its wildest.

Here, for some, is the film’s weakness, you do not have any detailed back story, just a dirty unpleasant fellow, and he is, determined to get back a car for no reason you are given. He will, and does, kill people for it.

For me, this film, and type of tale, was perfect. The focus of the film is Eric and Rey, Robert Pattinson moving on very firmly from the Twilight series, and both actors give strong believable displays. The costume and makeup are perfect, at no point did I believe they were nothing more than scummy, dirty, murderous, survivors. Pattinson in fact has the harder task playing the somewhat simple and naïve Rey, twitches, and blank looks, this can look like a parody or become tiring but Pattinson pitches it perfectly. Guy Pearce compliments this with a tough, mean, dirty, murderous man, but unlike most films in this style at no point did I think he was indestructible, tougher than anyone else or could not end up dead by the end of the film. He was just a man, placed into a horrible circumstance, who could handle a gun and knew what he wanted to do.

Director and writer David Michod is refreshingly not frightened of silence and a character we focus on who just does not like talking. But for all the grim, dirty, bleakness, somewhere at the heart of The Rover is the tale of alienation, cruelty and despair that is thrust onto people who could be just like you and me. Guy Pearce’s Eric slowly thawing to Rey, and it a small thaw, lets us into little glimpses of his ‘post-collapse’ world.

The car chase early on in the film sets you up for what are about to see, it is probably nothing like you have seen before or after and all the better for it. Add in a fantastic music score by Antony Partos and the whole look and feel of the film is enhanced. Equally important and impressive is the cinematography by Natasha Braier, production design, Jo Ford and art and set decoration which are as important as the acting and directing, all women I am pleased to say.

The Rover, much like Eric, gives you glimpses into its world but in the end you have to take in what you are watching, make your own mind up and either go along with the journey or not. I feel everything in this dirty, horrible film that makes me really like it is exactly what makes others hate it. It most definitely is ‘anti-Hollywood’ without being made for that reason.

The ending is perfect, you think you know for a split second at the reveal why Eric wants his car back and even that rug is pulled from under you. It is perfect and just underlines the tale to a tee.

I recommend this film if my views above appeal to you but if you like clean-cut heroes who cannot be beaten and Robert Pattinson as the clean-cut romantic hero, in a story where everything makes sense, and is laid out for you to enjoy then maybe give it a miss.

I loved it.

Grim and one-note - The Rover review by NP

It starts grim, it ends grim. The locations are beautifully photographed, and the minimalist score helps convey the bleakness and isolation of the piece. Guy Pearce growls intensely through his brief bouts of dialogue as Eric, and Robert Pattinson is effective as slow-minded Rey.

It is all very one note. When grimness is all there is, and there’s no lightness or shocks to break it up, the film becomes sadly dull. I found myself drifting away quite often, and I wasn’t given the impression I missed anything.

Others liked this, and that’s great; but for me, I found it a bit of a chore. My score is 4 out of 10.

I don't care what happens to these people. - The Rover review by DC

The film starts off with Eric wanting to get his car back from the men who stole it, which is a reasonable thing to drive a plot, in a comfortingly familiar post-apocalyptic setting. And then he murders a man because he doesn't want to pay full price for a gun. I immediately lost my sympathy for him at that point, and nothing he does afterwards made me like him any better. Eric wants his car back because of something inside it. I didn't think that it justified the trail of bodies left in his wake, and the other reviews suggest that not many other people were impressed by his motive. 

Apart from all that, it's a well-made film, so add one or two extra stars if you'll forgive any wrong doings by a film's protagonist because he's the hero, and that makes everything OK.  

Stylish and different, but interest increasingly flags - The Rover review by Alphaville

A stylish, moody, downbeat, slow-paced film that’s interesting at first but eventually begins to drag along with its whining score. The characters’ actions make no sense and the director needs to ditch the overlong speechless close-ups for a tad more upbeat excitement to maintain interest.