A. O. Scott did not like The Road. It was “to positive” for him. Apparently he wanted that cute little boy to eat a bullet at the end! He clearly needs some serious help. He probably didn’t like the appearance of that beetle in the middle of the movie either – too hopeful: everything should be DEAD, DEAD, DEAD!!!!

What is the point of a film like this? First of all, what happened to the earth in the film is never explained, but the clear implication is that some kind of “2012” bullshit occurred. How much more of this crap are we going to have to endure? We all need to stop pining for the end of the world to halt the march of our misery, ’cause it ain’t gonna happen, people! Give it up!

Secondly, I just can’t believe how fucking bleak this damn movie is! If the camera filter was any grayer, the film would have been solid gray. Normally, post apocalyptic films try to make a point about the essential goodness of humanity. Not here. There’s only one decent guy left on earth, maybe two, and everyone else is a stark-raving lunatic cannibal. I understand: the scenario is that everything is dead, but this just isn’t a very interesting scenario, is it? Sure if we really wind up in situation like this as a species, then whatever happens is liable to be pretty bleak. Do we really need to explore it for two-plus hours?

This film cast me into a deep depression right before Christmas, a depression made even worse by the fact the the Sunshine Cinema on the Lower East Side (where my wife and I saw it) has discontinued their use of real butter on their popcorn, which was the main reason to go to the Sunshine Cinema! So basically the afternoon was a complete bummer.

The film does hold your attention, though, and there are some pretty horrifying scenes in it. Viggo is pretty good as the father. Charlize Theron again surprises me with her ability to convincingly disappear into roles – I’m starting to suspect that she is quite a good actress. I’ll admit, I never paid her much attention before, and certainly never went out of my way to see her films. The kid was just okay, as was Duvall. Oh, and don’t get too excited about Guy Pearce being in the film – he’s only in it for like two minutes.

If you’ve been feeling happy and want to put an end to it, watch this film.