The Rover, Cannes Film Festival - film review: 'Robert Pattison is surprisingly good'

In this violent Aussie Western Guy Pearce is ferociously compelling and Robert Pattison surprisingly good too, putting his teen-roles behind him more conclusively than any of his contemporaries
Robert Pattinson in The Rover
David Sexton20 May 2014

David Michod made a splashy debut with Animal Kingdom back in 2010, a tremendously violent thriller about an horrific true-life crime family in Melbourne, starring Guy Pearce, Ben Mendelsohn, and Jacki Weaver.

Michod's follow up, The Rover, is a violent Aussie Western, set not in the past but slightly in the future, "10 years after the collapse". Civil order has broken down, the country is intermittently policed by the military, the only currency is the American dollar, there are crucifixions by the wayside, and the gun rules. It's a feral world, like a grubbier, more possible version of the Mad Max scenario.

Tough guy Eric (Guy Pearce again) drives up to a ratty roadside bar — and while he's inside, a criminal gang, having crashed their own truck, steal his car (possibly a Rover). Enraged, he grabs their truck and takes off after them but comes off worst from the confrontation.

In a shoot-out nearby, one of the gang, Henry (Scoot McNairy) has left behind his badly wounded younger brother Rey (Robert Pattison). Rey, inarticulate and perhaps a bit simple, wants revenge and he joins forces with Eric who is peculiarly obsessed with getting his unremarkable car back (a bit of a shaggy dog story that, but never mind).

Rey knows where the gang is based and so they set off across country, Eric repeatedly proving himself a ruthless dead shot, although he tells Rey he should never stop thinking about the people he has killed. So perhaps he does have a suppressed, badly scarred conscience after all? The developing relationship between the pair smacks just a little of Of Mice and Men: Eric wins Rey's trust and Rey's loyalty is absolute.

At its best, this nightmare journey seems nothing less than an emanation of the Australian landscape itself, so empty, dry and unforgiving, its harshness emphasized by a great, clanging soundtrack composed by Antony Partos and fine cinematography by Natasha Braier. Guy Pearce is ferociously compelling and Robert Pattison surprisingly good too, putting his teen-roles behind him more conclusively than any of his contemporaries. The story never quite grabs you, though, and the violent climax seems too predictable. The apocalyptic road trip is such a thriving genre now, we've taken that ride a little too often.

Latest Cannes Film Festival reviews

1/20

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in