The Rover

A slower and less functional affair than, for example, The Road (though similarly inhospitable, dirty, raw), its biggest flaw is that it wants to be occasionally cynical and deliberately far-fetched, but it doesn't really work. Guy Pearce and Robert Pattinson are surprisingly work, but otherwise, this bizarre post-apocalyptic road movie is average and not innovative or entertaining in any way. (15/04/2015)

The Rover is certainly an interesting film, although it heavily depends on whether you enjoy slow, contemplative movies where every second feels like it actually lasts three seconds. It drags on, but the story being told here isn't completely bad in itself. It just doesn't impress. I'm a fan of Robert Pattinson, and here he proves that he's stepped out of his box and is a capable actor. Guy Pearce proved that long ago, but he tends to play similar types of roles too often. (18/09/2014)

With the atmosphere of its Australian outback in a realistic (i.e. non-fantasy) post-apocalyptic form with a lot of bleak social goings-on, The Rover is a superbly engaging thriller. Furthermore, I really like these reticent opuses in which we get to know the characters just a bit at a time. But the more sophisticated The Rover gets, the more futile it seems in some of its would-be philosophical dialogue, and the more unsatisfying its ending becomes. It’s as if it admitted that it was shit (and considered that to be its creative strength). (08/05/2020)

After my great concern, this ended up up being a very solid and slow-moving post-apocalyptic thriller with a very pissed-off Guy Pearce and a convincing performance by Robert Pattinson. I liked the occasional brutality and the host of weird inhabitants. These Final Hours was handily outclassed by The Rover, hence I'm taking out one star. 65% (29/08/2014)

(49th KVIFF) The tempo is easy-going, but the atmosphere is gripping, with the dirt, the desert, the hirsute hero, the endless Australian roads, the isolated buildings and the redneck post-apocalyptic population. Pearce and Pattinson are great. And it’s got some balls, as the midget will tell you. So, pretty satisfied, though Tarantino’s hype (OMG! OMG! the best post-apocalyptic movie since Mad Max) was, as expected, exaggerated, if not downright bollocks, as it’s usual with him. The final twist is (especially for me, those who know me will understand) utterly absurd, though the protagonist’s prior behaviour gives it at least some motivation. (08/07/2014)