THE ROVER - Tuesday 17th June 2014.

I ventured out to my favourite Northern Beaches cinema - The Cremorne Orpheum Picture Palace, last night to see David Michod's 'THE ROVER'. This film is bleak, dark, brutal and grim and it sucks you in every step of the way as we trace the steps of 'The Rover' (played chillingly by Guy Pearce) and his captive Rey (played brilliantly and convincingly by Robert Pattinson).

After the opening credits have rolled we are told on screen that this is 'Australia - ten years after The Collapse'. Quite what 'The Collapse' is or was exactly we are never told, but as the story unfolds we learn quickly enough that The Collapse related to social and economic collapse across the globe it would seem, although this action takes place firmly in our own back yard - that of South Australia to be more precise. We are immediately transplanted to some remote almost forgotten almost derelict outback one horse town and in drives The Rover to refresh himself at some local dive bar. Approaching this one horse town in a pick-up truck at speed are three arguing dudes - one shot in the leg and clenching the wound holding a pistol, all of different nationalities, and clearly their latest crime caper has gone awry. As they argue and become distracted the pick-up truck flips and sails past on its roof outside the window of the bar where The Rover is seated. He is oblivious to this until two other patrons run outside having witnessed the whole thing. Up stands The Rover and strolls outside only to see the three dudes recover from their car wreck and drive off down the road in his car! This then sets the tone of the film as The Rover seeks to recover his vehicle.

What follows is essentially a road movie where The Rover are hell bent of retrieving his car, but for reasons that are unclear to us until the closing frames of the film. In the meantime, he captures the badly injured brother of the dude shot in the leg who was left for dead in the street in their earlier crime caper gone awry. This is Rey - he's American and has come to Australia to work in the mines with his brother. Rey is two cans short of a six pack - described as a 'dim wit' by The Rover who can't see that his precious brother left him for dead on the street with a shot to the gut. Rey is The Rover's ticket to finding his car.

Remembering that society and the economy has collapsed ten years ago, there is no law in the outback. Money and death are the only currencies that hold any value - the money of preference is now the US Dollar, and those surviving will shoot first and ask questions later! We learn that The Rover killed his wife and her lover ten years ago when The Collapse first occurred and he just walked away, no one came after him then, nobody cared and so we know this has been the status quo for a decade now.

Spending the best part of a week together on the road driving to their final destination where brother and fellow cohorts are holed up in another shit-box town, Rey and The Rover strike up an unlikely friendship and camaraderie despite the obvious emotional and intellectual differences. Along the way we learn a little more of each man (but not much) and various others get killed all for the sake of the car!

Pearce plays The Rover chillingly and in a very calculated way and does so with aplomb - eight men die by his hand, and another four indirectly during the course of the film, all clinically and all with a single gun shot - all for his car, and still we don't know why? Pattinson plays the mentally challenged half-witted downtrodden younger brother Rey expertly and convincingly - his voice, his mannerism, his expressions are first rate and believable.

When the end comes and the killings have stopped and The Rover has retrieved his car, the big reveal comes and we learn why it was so important to him to get it back. This will leave you thinking WTF? 12 dead for that! But to one man this was the most important thing, all consuming, his absolute focus no matter what the cost.

This film will not be for everyone, but it shows imagination in the subject matter and its rendition on screen played out expertly by two very different actors playing against type, and delivering in spades. This is an original must see Australian film featuring fine performances from the two principle leads and the supporting cast, solid direction, the barren unforgiving backdrop of the South Australian outback, a haunting soundtrack and a great story.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-