The Rover (2014) - David Michod

David Michod's The Rover is the highly anticipated follow-up to his first feature Animal Kingdom.  Taking place 10 years after a global economic collapse, The Rover is the story of Eric, a ruthless, hardened loner who travels from town to down in the desolate outback.  After a gang of thieves steal his car, Eric is given a purpose, to track these men down and get back what is rightfully his.  As he travels through the lawless outback, he takes a wounded, dim-witted, young man as his accomplice.  David Michod's The Rover is a post-apocalyptic nightmare exploring the loss of law and morality through an extremely hardened man.  This is basically the complete opposite of a feel-good movie - this is brutal, unrelenting filmmaking intent on exposing the dark side of humanity and loss of morality.  While the film lays this sense of dread on thick with fantastic production design and cinematography, The Rover really succeeds because of Eric's character, with Guy Pearce delivering a memorable performance.  This is a character whose completely devoid of any compassion or optimism and the journey which The Rover puts him through is engrossing, slowly but subtlely unraveling how this man has become so hopeless.  Robert Patterson as the dim-witted Rey is impressive as well, delivering his best performance to-date.  He is a great ying to Eric's yang, a man whose more well-intentioned but easily manipulated.  David Michod's The Rover is a ambiguous exploration of humanity, effectively capturing conflict between light and dark, and the power of loss.  

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