Australia is now a dystopia, ten years after an event called "The Collapse." The inhabitants survive on scraps in a barren desert, shooting their way into any means they can use to live another day. And in the midst of all the chaos, Eric (Guy Pearce) is searching for his blue sedan. Three bandits have crashed their truck escaping from a shoot-out, so the next logical step was to take the car. This fuels Eric's rage as he chases the group down in their truck (apparently only takes about 45 seconds of maneuvering to free it from a pile of tires) interrogating, intimidating, and murdering anyone in his path. After coming across Rey (Robert Pattinson), the brother of one of the bandits, Eric forces Rey to lead him to the bandits' hideout to get back his prized possession...and his revenge.
Amidst the silence, there's an ever-present layer of tension. Someone always has a weapon, someone is always watching their back. Suddenly, a flurry of bullets rips a door apart, or an assailant makes his presence known. Guns also have a knack for making Rorschach paintings out of people's skulls. For the majority of the film, the theater was so quiet that when a cell phone rang, it filled up all the space in the room, echoing off the walls. (Never has a Nokia phone sounded so bold.)
All this madness is an overreaction; at least, we, the audience, can afford ourselves the luxury of analysis. We can find the comedy in how random these interactions can be, trying to defuse tension by latching on to a witty piece of dialogue. We can detach ourselves from the film and ask "how the hell does this kind of character end up here?" I don't think Eric is much aware of the oddity as he composes himself to make the ever-quotable statement, "I'm looking for a car." But we are. As a defense mechanism, we have to find a way to laugh, or cry, or come up with a logical reason for it all, in order to not give in to the insanity.
Eric, in a typical action picture, would be played by Jason Statham. His gruff exterior and 'don't-mess-with-me' attitude would contrast the cockiness of the bandits and we would root as he, justified through every battle, gets back what's rightfully his. In "The Rover", we have Guy Pearce. Pearce comes out guns-a-blazing. He bashes heads in. He robs, assaults, and murders. Statham is justified. Pearce is not. However, Pearce's eyes allow us to see the gears whirring in Eric's head. His 1960's computer of a brain lacks the programming to see another option, often taking the longer, more complicated route to be able to approach any situation from his status quo. But as Pearce's eyes also reveal Eric's vulnerability, it allows the audience just enough rope to hang on to his character, continuing to follow, out of sheer intrigue.
If there's a star-making performance in this film, Robert Pattinson earns it. I feel Pattinson will be forever known as "that kid with the botched nipple from Twilight", but as his track record with David Cronenberg shows, Pattinson is a man of the arthouse, perfect at capturing the mindset of off-kilter men. As Rey, Pattinson brings a child-like, almost innocent quality. Rey's happy-go-lucky attitude combined with his naivete is a sharp contrast to Eric's bitter outlook on life; there's a sense that if things could work out differently, Rey would be able to transcend the attitudes of the desert, do well for himself. However, Rey is so easily malleable that any strong enough personality can influence him, lead him down the darkest paths. Because of this, we sympathize with Rey's desire to just have a good life; he's like a puppy who's been kicked. He's the closest we get to an identifiable character, the emotional center of the film.
"The Rover" is a creature all its own: tense, hilarious, dark, heart-wrenching, vulgar, hopeful. Its risky storytelling and direction crafts an experience that leaves me in constant thought. What happens when men are pushed to a breaking point? Can we transcend our primitive desires in search for something more meaningful? What the hell is inside this blue sedan? "The Rover" provides answers, but the journey getting there is full of twists, laughs, shocks, and drama: worth every minute.
Thank you all for reading; I'm the Man Without a Plan, signing off.
"The Rover" trailer:
No comments:
Post a Comment