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The Road
2009 111 min United States of America R 18+
★7.1
Adventure, Drama
Director: John Hillcoat
🎭 Based on
«The Road»
byCormac McCarthy
Trailers
EN
EN
Description
A father and his son walk alone through burned America. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind and water. It is cold enough to crack stones and, when the snow falls, it is gray. Their destination is the warmer south, although they don't know what, if anything, awaits them there.
Budget:
$32M
US Gross:
$8.12M
Worldwide:
$27.64M
Starring
Viggo Mortensen
Actor
Charlize Theron
Actor
Kodi Smit-McPhee
Actor
Awards
BAFTA 2010
— Best Cinematography
Saturn Awards 2010
— Best Young Performer
Venice Film Festival 2009
— Golden Lion
Saturn Awards 2010
— Best Actor
Key opinion
The Road is a profoundly bleak and visceral adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s novel that centers on the survival struggle of a father and son. While critics and audiences largely praise the film's powerful performances and atmospheric commitment to its source material, its relentless, somber tone makes it an emotionally draining experience that some find difficult to engage with.
| Acting | Viggo Mortensen and Kodi Smit-McPhee deliver visceral, emotionally authentic performances that anchor the film's heavy subject matter. | |
| Production | The production design effectively captures a decaying, scorched, and gray post-apocalyptic landscape that feels both realistic and hellish. | |
| Adaptation | The film succeeds as a faithful adaptation, capturing the tone and philosophical weight of Cormac McCarthy’s original novel. | |
| Emotion | The relentless, depressing atmosphere is hailed by some as a profound meditation on human nature, while others find the film's unremitting bleakness tedious and lacking in engagement. | |
| Ending | The ending creates a divide in perspective; some viewers find the final glimmer of hope smart and satisfying, while others view it as unearned or disconnected from the film’s established nihilism. |