Article by Marie "Tired of seeing Viggo's butt" Sarkisian

I went to see The Road last night because I thought the world was too happy and wanted a reality check.

Leaving the theater with my shirt wet from crying and afraid I'd never smile again, I couldn't deny the raw power of this movie. I cannot remember the last movie I saw that made me FEEL like this. It was awful and awesome at the same time.

The Road is based off the novel by Cormac McCarthy. It is a post apocalyptic story set years after an unknown disaster (we assumed it to be bombs and then a series of natural disasters) and people are cannibalistic due to the lack of food. Plants no longer grow, animals have died off, and only homeless humans are left to either die, hunt, or run. The movie is terribly suspenseful where even the very few light moments are pretty crappy. There is just NO HOPE left for this father and son combo. The only thing these two live for is to make it to the east coast, and then keep moving south in the hopes they might find warmth or food.

Again, Viggo Mortensen dives head into the role of "The Man" (as you never hear him being called anything else but 'Papa' by his son) by losing a ton of weight and stripping down to nothing a few times so we all know how skinny he got. I think after Eastern Promises he had nothing to be modest about his nudity.

Visually I think this movie was 100% on par what it should have looked like at the end of the earth. It was bleak, cold, snowy/rainy, and downright depressing. It wasn't over the top with blizzards or tidal waves, though it did have the occasional storm, fire, or earthquake to shake you up a little. As they walked through deserted streets and abandoned homes, I did expect to see a zombie pop out. Luckily, all they had to worry about was smarter, desperately alive humans who developed a taste for other humans and also had guns and knives. No sweat.

Props go to Kodi Smit-McPhee for his role as The Boy. Getting a good child actor is always important, but he was pretty much the only other actor in the movie besides Viggo and occasionally Charlize Theron or a stray person. There was no music or graphics to really beef up a drab role, the movie was nearly all acting. It kind of had a Cast Away / I Am Legend quality to it.

And although I understand why Charlize Theron did what she did, she was still a bitch.

As far and acting and visuals go, this movie is definitely oscar worthy. Just don't go into it thinking it's going to be a feel-good movie.