THE ROAD

THE ROAD

THE ROAD: B- 

A visually appealing film, THE ROAD kept my interest throughout with an exceptionally strong performance out of Vigo Mortensen as the man. However if what keeps me glued to the screen is a series of questions, I eventually expect those questions to be answered. To do anything less is to cheat your audience, and as a viewer I felt very cheated at the end. 

Ambiguity is an art that has to be mastered and while it was used here, it was not used well. The point of ambiguity is to leave your audience with a sense of wonder. To care about and ponder the possibilities. The film didn't do that. It instead begged why, and lured in with tease after tease, setting up a revelation that was never given. 

I appreciated the poetic sentiment delivered in the monologues of beautiful language, yet the exchange of dialog between father and son was corny. The script was written well for the the man, and poorly for the boy, and it showed in nearly every scene. 

This is the second film I have seen like this in the past year. It is an other wise good film, that I will never return to again because of its weaker ending. And I say weaker, instead of poor for distinct reason.

It's not that the ending sucked. The ending was actually rather up lifting, but it didn't deliver all that it had promised. Too much was left unanswered, too many rabbit trails with no ends.