The Road

Almost laughably bleak adaption of the Cormac McCarthy novel, the highly thought of post apocolypatic tale touted as wonderfully lyrical. The book had better be, because the plot offers no sense of direction or belief, and the film often lurches into not entirely plausible grimness that makes the whole excercise mildy irritating. The little boys 'pah-pah, pah-pah!' is easy to mock, and visiting violence on all the characters seems like a welcome laugh. Viggo Mortensen with his gruff desperation, barely seems to figure as anything more than a deranged, wide eyed, well meaning but broken man.
Though we don't particulalry find ourselves caring for any of the characters in individual scenes of parable (the whole exercise, for perfectly good thematic reasons, lacks much narrative drive) are well rendered and thoughful (though we wouldn't have ever risked messing with and trying to jack Omar, personally), and the world, though dull and grim as necessary, has some fine framings.
Overall, a not particularly enthralling film, but nor is it brainless.