Viggo Mortensen Hits The Road!
Viggo, Viggo, Viggo…you have been a naughty monkey! Oh, wait…that’s Ghostbusters II. No, I’m thinking Viggo Mortensen, and the man has been busy. Remember when I talked about him going the Edgar Allen Poe route? When I opined that he’s got a horror flick to his credit so it may come off all right? As it turns out, it’s only the start of something! That’s right—Viggo Mortensen’s making a crossover into the horror genre, because he’s plotting another one!
Roads Go Ever, Ever On
It’s called The Road, and it’s post-Apocalyptic with lots of horrible cannibals and Viggo Mortensen trying to get his son to safety. Like one part Mad Max and one part Lord of the Rings except with a kid instead of a ring. And nothing really Australian, either.
But still! Nothing gets my engines churning quite like dystopia, and man, this sucker looks to have all the dystopia I can handle!
Dystopia A La Carte
I call it especially interesting that Viggo Mortensen is making a move on the horror genre—if you don’t believe by now in the state of horror’s legitimacy, then take a good long look at that.
And if you want legitmate Viggo Mortensen trivia, then come on in to Kwanzoo, where you won’t have to fight through any cannibals for the good stuff.
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You may want to read the Road and then rethink this pre-review. While it is a post-apocalyptic setting and there are cannibals, the story mainly centers around the relationship between the father and son. We don’t actually see any graphic violence. The director (Australian, FYI) previously directed a movie called the Proposition, which was massively violent in the tradition of the old Spaghetti westerns, so that may have an influence. Guy Pearce, who has a minor role in the Road, starred in the Proposition as well.
People expecting Mad Max, however, will probably be disappointed in the Road. It’s going to be bleak, and grim, and intense, and likely not fast-paced action.
Have you ever read the Road, buddy? Its not a horror flick, the cannibals are in in the book for less than 25 pages out of the whole 279 book. Its more about surviving in a harsh landscape, years after something happened, and loving someone so much that you won’t give up, even when your entire existence is walking down roads (melted by previous fires so they now contain corpses embedded in them) scavenging from town to town, knowing almost everything is gone because their not the first to travel that way.
Man–You’re right to suggest that this book-to-movie translation might be more restrained than is normally expected of a major motion picture, but I think you’re banking entirely too heavily on the accuracy of a book-to-movie translation. They generally are NOT, as a rule, very accurate, so don’t be surprised if this version has a lot more punch than you expect.
Becky–Good points, but I think my “prereview” will stand as is, at least for now. On the strength of what is currently known about the film, it WILL be post-apocalyptic in nature, just like Mad Max. Level of action and adrenaline aside, the concept does stand. Granted, in the most generic terms–I can call a hay wagon and a Maserati both “vehicles” but that doesn’t begin to describe their differences–but no less accurate for the generality. It also WILL deal heavily with the concept of getting from Point A to Point B in a really really dangerous setting, just like Lord of the Rings. Any kind of setting where modern law and order has dissolved and left behind chaos and true anarchy is not a “safe” setting. Again, generic terms, but they’re still quite accurate.