This was an interesting little movie. I saw the trailer some time ago and it did its job, it got me to add it to my list to watch. Apocalypse/social collapse movies are a dime a dozen these days and are tough to do right. It’s easy to use every cliche in the book. The Rover keeps it simple. It’s set in Australia, 10 years after a massive global economic collapse. After a botched encounter, a group of men steal Eric’s car. It’s the only thing he owns aside from the clothes on his back. He follows the men to get it back and runs into Rey, the younger brother of one of the thieves. Rey got shot in the botched encounter and was left for dead.

When you have little of your own, you cherish what you do have. Eric’s car is a part of him and holds signficants that’s revealed at the end. The Rover is very much a man on a mission movie and it’s done very well.

At just over an hour and a half, the movie sets up it’s pieces and moves along with very little waiting. Each stop on the road is interesting and well thought out. The bits of this world and how it works are revealed slowly, but wisely. Guy Pierce as Eric holds it down, but the real star and the most impressive work is done by Robert Pattinson as Rey. A real tranformative role, he manages to visually and tonaly get into another persons skin. It’s not Pattinson up there, it’s Rey.

A surpsing movie as I’ve never heard of it until recently, I liked The Rover quite a bit. I enjoy “what if…” scenarios alot and when they are done right, they are a joy to watch. A man’s (or woman’s) purpose in life is always ripe for exploration and discussion.