On ‘The Road’ again

Maybe releasing this post-apocalyptic creep fest the day before Thanksgiving is a way to make us all more appreciative of what we have. Still, John Hillcoat’s adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s bleak travelogue The Road has to be, hands-down, the feel-bad movie of the season. Of course, some movie fans really go for that stuff, and The Road has a cast capable of making things interesting.  Lord of the Rings star Viggo Mortensen portrays “Man” and relative newcomer Kodi Smit-McPhee is “Boy,” his son on their quest to find hope and a warmer home down South in an unrecognizable America devastated by an unspecified and cataclysmic disaster. It’s a world where harsh winter winds blow in ash instead of snow and a can of Coca-cola is a luxury. I suppose where civilization ends product placement forges on strong. Cannibals blanket the path ahead and Mortensen’s journey is fraught with danger, grief and hardship at every turn. Robert Duvall, Guy Pearce, and Charlize Theron co-star. Rated R. (Image courtesy Dimension Films)