Review: The Rover

David Michod burst on to the scene with the fantastic Animal Kingdom, a film that got Jackie Weaver an Oscar nomination. His follow up film The Rover features another standout performance, this time by Guy Pearce. Unfortunately the rest of the film is a jumbled mess of good and bad ideas that amount to an unclear and tedious film.

Pearce plays Eric, a man given very little introduction aside from a small amount of backstory that comes late in the film. A group of criminals crash their car and steal Eric's car while he is having a drink. He begins to hunt them down in order to get his car back. The lack of motivation makes Eric into an almost Terminator like character for a while. That is until he meets one of the thieves' younger and slightly handicapped brother Rey, played by Robert Pattinson. The two make an odd couple as the film switches gears from chase film to buddy road film territory.

Pattinson provides an odd performance here. One that shows he has more talent that I gave him credit for but also shows many of his shortcomings. Overall, the film's out of place emotional heft in the third act relies heavily on Pattinson and his performance didn't work for me in a few key scenes. As two men get closer to Rey's brother and his gang, the film wants us to feel something for Eric and Rey. Yet the film never cultivates this, often leaving the characters as mere sketches than fleshed-out people we can relate to.

The film is shot beautifully and Pearce is electric throughout. This may make some eager to pull out deeper meanings in the film. I think the film has too many contridicting scenes to make sense of as a whole. The morality at stake for Eric is often elusive. We are never really sure why he decides to do what he does in the end. The film has so much going for it yet fails to realize a point to all the violence. In the end, the plot feels empty and Pearce's wonderful performance goes to waste.