The Rover 2014

Wesley Morris, Grantland: The deadpan irony of the final sequence feels like the punch line of a mournful but very thin joke. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: Despite the dense dust-caked atmosphere and a spiky, unnerving score by Antony Partos, Michod's film adds up to little more than existentialist moaning punctuated by the occasional gunfight. Read more

Rex Reed, New York Observer: [It has] all of the excitement of being trapped in the desert without a map, watching a cow skull turn to dust. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: Long on menace, often violent and consistently fascinating. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: While it's never less than compelling, the characters here are ciphers (particularly a deeply troubled young man played by a grunting Robert Pattinson) and the violence feels wearingly familiar. Read more

Richard Corliss, TIME Magazine: Michod not only stints on the big backstory but is sometimes weak on story. Read more

Scott Foundas, Variety: It has a desolate beauty all its own, and a career-redefining performance by Robert Pattinson that reveals untold depths of sensitivity and feeling in the erstwhile "Twilight" star. Read more

A.A. Dowd, AV Club: A bleaker, less colorful descendant of the Mad Max films, replacing the rollicking action of that franchise with a mood of nihilistic despair. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: You might call it a morality play, if there were any morality to speak of at play. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: There's a thin line between the iconic and the generic, and "The Rover," a grim post-apocalyptic drama from down under, wanders back and forth across it in an adrenaline daze. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: It's impressive for its ingenuity in suggesting, on a relatively low budget, a 21st century in which the world monetary system has disintegrated, leaving every man for himself. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: Director David Michod's follow-up to his acclaimed debut, Animal Kingdom, is effective in an elemental way. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: Like many a late 21st century Western -- regardless of the land of its origins -- The Rover asks what happens on the downslope of Manifest Destiny? As hot, parched and heated as the atmosphere is, the answers are chilling. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: Writer-director David Michod ("Animal Kingdom") likes his violence, but what he's really offering here is an odd bond between two severely damaged men who have little in common beyond the damage. Read more

Cary Darling, Fort Worth Star-Telegram/DFW.com: A beautifully shot post-apocalyptic fever dream that might have worked as a short but is inconsequential as a feature film. Read more

Chris Nashawaty, Entertainment Weekly: Bleak, brutal, and ultimately pointless, the film stars Guy Pearce as a man whose car is stolen and who won't rest until he not only gets it back but also punishes, with extreme prejudice, the dirtbags who took it. Read more

Jordan Hoffman, Film.com: [A] dark, dreary and dull "Mad Max in Neutral" Read more

Todd McCarthy, Hollywood Reporter: Fusing a hybrid of quasi-apocalyptic influences into a work with a pungent character of its own, The Rover suggests something like a Cormac McCarthy vision of Australia halfway between today and The Road Warrior times. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: A film shot in 100-degree-plus heat that chills the blood as well as the soul. Read more

Amy Nicholson, L.A. Weekly: Pattinson appears to have picked the role precisely because it will send his Twilight fans screaming out of the theater Read more

Randy Myers, San Jose Mercury News: The scarcity of expository background took me a few minutes to adjust to. But part of "The Rover's" mission is to keep us off-kilter; making us question and seek out answers about what's happened before. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: The Rover is so intentionally vague and shapeless, it doesn't leave much of an imprint other than Pattinson's odd, melancholy performance. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: While some of the film's ambiguity is welcome - we're never told why society has fallen apart, it's just a sadly acceptable given that it has - a good deal of it is disappointing. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: The desolate country is alluringly evocative, but Michod relies too heavily on atmosphere when we need meaningful action. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: There is both too much story and not enough. Read more

Tirdad Derakhshani, Philadelphia Inquirer: An evocative, moody road movie through the Australian Outback that's as sparse and dry as the desolate landscape it traverses, its deliberate rhythm punctuated by short periods of shocking, bloody violence. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: In revealing two men trying to get in touch with the shreds of their shared humanity, [director] Michod offers a startling vision. You'll be hooked. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: The movie's overall cast of gloom - no one here has cracked a smile in years - contributes to a leaden aura. Read more

Dan Kois, Slate: Blood is spilled, as is to be expected in a film that explores a world on the brink of ruin, but each death echoes through the story the way the hero's gunshots echo across the Outback. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Forget "gritty." "The Rover" is so rank that if you cut yourself on it, you'd need a tetanus shot. Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: A sterling example of the new Australian noir. Read more

Mary Houlihan, Chicago Sun-Times: The Rover does have a central nervous system that crackles and pops with suspense, but in the end it's not enough to jump-start the lack of narrative. Read more

Kiva Reardon, Globe and Mail: The destination doesn't feel worth the journey. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: This minimalist gem affords a chance to see ex-Twilight star Robert Pattinson at his dramatic best. Read more

Steve Pond, TheWrap: Pattinson, who Cronenberg sometimes seemed to use specifically because of a certain blankness (particularly in Cosmopolis), gets a weird and meaty role and turns out to know what to do with it. Read more

Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out: There's a purity to the utter lack of rationale here; this, combined with Michod's way with a landscape, makes for a passable guy-picture masquerading as something deep. Read more

Liz Braun, Toronto Sun: Of Mice and Men at the end of the world -- that's the general turf of The Rover. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: It's not just the lack of dialogue but a thin story that keeps this nihilistic tale from conveying a convincing sense of suspense. Too many details are withheld to keep the audience captivated. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: Easy to watch at arm's length and easier to shake off. It's overbaked art-pulp. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: What makes "The Rover" more watchable than the average self-conscious genre exercise is Pearce, who exudes such weary authority and palpable vulnerability that he's sympathetic even in the film's most brutalizing moments. Read more