If there’s anything more I love than post apocalyptic films, its post apocalyptic films with substance and meaning to them. “The Rover” is a slow boil drama thriller set in Australia where the continent has now economically collapsed. Set ten years after an apparent apocalypse, Australia is the Wild West where law is so corrupt that its citizens have zero respect for those in blue. Director David Michôd thrives on ambiguity by introducing a cast of characters with their own moral codes that conflict with everyone else’s. “The Rover” garners nothing but slime balls and the amoral, but that doesn’t stifle the utterly compelling storyline.
David Michôd’s film is about honor and maintaining some semblance of humanity in a world that’s lost it all in a hail of greed. Guy Pearce gives an excellent performance as Eric, a normal man who is the unfortunate victim of a trio of criminals that have just botched a robbery. Injured and desperate, they dump their truck and steal Eric’s car for a quick getaway. Shockingly Eric follows them in their car, chasing them down and making it very clear that he wants his car back. What’s worse is that he’ll do literally anything to get his car back and won’t allow them to escape with it in their possession. Eric is forced to travail the outback of Australia alone, and fueled by his mission.
Pearce is incredibly menacing as the merciless Eric who is quick to shoot literally anyone if it means getting his car back, and is hell bent on tracking the trio of thieves down. Eric isn’t noble or working on some sense of heroism, he’s just a man who wants his car, and has no qualms about shooting someone in the face to accomplish his goal. Eric’s luck improves, though, when he crosses paths with the mentally disabled brother of one of the robbers, and brings him along to help him find the car. Director Michôd paints the outback as this hazy and hot landscape that helps unfold this simple yet effective narrative. Pearce is perfect as this mentally unstable man whose life has been rattled and tattered over the last twenty years, all the while relying on Pattinson’s character Reynolds for information.
Pattinson is barely recognizable as the mumbling mentally disabled Reynolds, forced in to helping Eric, and unsure of what to do about his brother who abandoned him during the initial crime. “The Rover” seems to drift along on a seemingly random series of events as director Michôd paints a grimy and disgusting new vision of Australia and a gruesome underbelly of society trying to survive day by day. Everyone reside in their own holes and homes, is a particularly surreal environment where society relies on their own form of currency and economic system that keep them alive. The final scene is a clear picture of how regardless of the lawless land, principles and honor means everything.