The Rover

Published October 6, 2014 | By Folklore

Review by- The Dark Horse

Sometimes reading middling-to-sub-par reviews of hotly-anticipated films can put you off watching films, or if you do take the plunge, they can have a real damaging effect on your viewing experience. However, going in with low expectations can sometimes be a winning situation, as quite often, those preconceptions before the lights go down and the curtains open up, can often change quite considerably.

Back in 2010, Australian director David Michod released his first feature film, Animal Kingdom to well deserved acclaim and respect. The film delved into the Melbourne underworld, where the story followed a seventeen year old lad within a fractured and violent criminal family, where his survival instincts are pitted against some hardened criminals. It was an audacious debut which showed great verve and confidence in directorial style and within the artistic output involved; such great actors from the films, such as Ben Mendelsohn have gone on to become something quite special in world cinema.

So, four years later, Michod finally returns to the big screen with his sophomore drama feature, The Rover (2014). No, it’s not based upon the unstylish British car manufacturer (I apologise to any Rover fans), but on Michod’s own written composition and directorial output. The film is as basic as they come. Set in the near future, in the outback of Australia, where there has been some sort of global economic collapse, the story centres upon Eric (Guy Pearce), whose beloved possession of a car at the beginning of proceedings, is taken from him by a group of robbers. This then spurs Eric into pursuing the criminals, in order to claim his car back, but along the way, he captures one of the thieves’ brothers, Rey, played by none other than ex-Twishite, Robert Pattinson, which they then, surprisingly, continue the pursuit of the group of thieves, together.

I was a little deflated by the early reports of The Rover, as I had been waiting for some time for Michod’s follow up, and the initial revealing of the film’s premise sounding promising, so I did not see the film straight away. But after some niggling and contemplation, I decided to ignore the reviews and check the film out. And yes, to my surprise, it turned out to be a little overlooked gem.

I am always a sucker for moody tones and beautifully shot open landscapes (yes, throw me a Terence Malick bone any day!); you can almost taste and feel the arid burnt textures of the land and atmosphere through the screen. So, yes, The Rover fitted the bill rather well. However, it wasn’t these traits that won me over with the film; it was the simplicity of the narrative, the oddness of the characters, along with the performances and interactions that made the film work effectively.

When a film is somewhat of a chase movie, it should just be about the chase and the interaction between the chasers, or the chased, and nothing else; anything more becomes tacked-on and irrelevant to the core dynamism of the narrative’s heartbeat. The protagonist, Eric, seems like any regular bloke, but he comes across as a man who has nothing to loose and is not privy to sharing his desperate need for retrieving his car back, but it is this desperation that makes him a force to be reckoned with. I was worried a little about Pattinson working alongside such acting pedigree as Pearce, but here, he pulls it off with a performance that is not what people may expect from him (like Daniel Radcliffe, it’s actually great to see him going for more challenging roles,). The fragility and torn nature of his character seem very different on the surface with Pearce’s character, but they are more alike than what is initially portrayed, which makes their interactions more intriguing and captivating, as the search unfolds.

What is also distinctive to the film’s success is the backdrop of the story and the setting; you get to meet some twisted and dark-natured side characters along the way, as they represent the outcome of the aftermath of the global meltdown- something which is quite disconcerting and menacing, but is what is to be expected when society and morality break-down. But going back to the simplicity of a chase film, it is the core of the driving force behind the protagonist that makes you, the viewer; yearn for the chase and the revenge, but more importantly, why this is happening, thus why you want to stay with Eric to end of his and the film’s journey.

Some have complained about the lack of dialogue and the languid pace of the film, but I did not see any major issues with these areas. Film doesn’t always have to embody lots of dialogue to capture and draw-in viewers; there are other elements to speak to the audience, e.g. soundtrack, environment, nuance, etc. And to the people who thought the pace was lackadaisical, well okay, the film is a chase film and there is not a lot of driving and running, however, the narrative is unveiled in a variety of captivating locations and tense-filled set-pieces, so the film is certainly not drab and stagnant in the slightest.

I will concede to the fact that The Rover will not be to everybody’s taste, as it’s somewhat nihilistic tone and lack of major actions scenes may not deliver the goods for some. However, from a summer period where the overloading and manufacturing of sound and vision, and spectacle (a la Transformers) leaves audiences feeling empty and numb, The Rover was a decidedly refreshing change, especially with a more stripped-back approach. As the proverbial man once said, sometimes less is more.