Ten years after a catastrophic economic collapse, Australia is a lawless frontier where the US dollar is a more worthwhile currency and life is cheap.   Eric (Guy Pearce) is on a quest to get his car back after three robbers steal his car.  He bumps into the dimwitted brother of one of the robbers and holds the wounded brother Rey (Robert Pattinson hostage.   Eric and Rey go on a road trip so that Eric can get his car back and exact revenge.

 

THE ROVER is one part road movie/ one part meditation on humanity and how life is of little value to many people after the Collapse.   The most human character is the woman Doctor while you wonder why Eric wants his car back for most of the film as the story reveals that he will kill without hesitation.   The closest he forms to a friendship is with Rey, but Eric is definitely using Rey no matter how much Rey wants someone to like him by even helping Eric to find Rey’s brother.   THE ROVER has moments of hope and I find it more enjoyable than the relentlessly hopeless THE ROAD.  Guy Pearce gives an understated performance where his actions and expressions say as much as his words.  Robert Pattinson gives a different performance than what you expect from him as he is willing to take chances as an actor and look for range in his acting ability.  The third star of THE ROVER is the bleak Australian landscape that Eric and Rey travel across- the same land where the Army doesn’t care for the people anymore and sometimes it is everyone for themselves.  

 

SPECIAL FEATURES:

SOMETHING ELEMENTAL: MAKING THE ROVER- this three part documentary is 44 minutes long and is a mix of clips from the movie, interviews, and behind-the-scenes footage

PART 1: NEW WORLD ALIGNMENT- the origins of THE ROVER and how it came to be made

PART 2: A MULTITUDE OF EXTREMES- talk about the characters and the actors praise each other (and the director was as impressed with Pattinson’s performance as Pearce was)

Part 3: LAWLESS FRONTIER- the look and on-the-fly production design of THE ROVER

 

Also included are trailers for other releases from LIONSGATE and a code to stream and download a Digital HD Ultraviolet copy of the movie via TV, Computer, Tablet, and smartphones.

 

FINAL ANALYSIS: THE ROVER is an interesting mediation on humanity after a big economic collapse with Guy Pearce and Robert Pattinson turning great performances against a harsh landscape in a near future.

 

This review is ©9-25-2014 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission.  Send all comments to feedback@enterline-media.com

 

Like Enterline Media on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/enterlinemediaweb and follow on tumblr at http://enterlinemedia.tumblr.com