Christopher Webster [Celluloid 05.15.09] post apocalyptic movie trailer news horror drama



Alright folks, it's finally here. The big one. The Road trailer has arrived courtesy of Yahoo. More than perhaps any other film we've covered over the past year, this one has kept you glued to the site, waiting to see even the smallest glimpse of what this dire post-apocalyptic vision would bring. So, does it live up to our expectations? Well lets look at it in detail.

First of all, besides a couple of questionable CGI vistas, The Road looks spectacular. John Hillcoat and crew have obviously done and amazing job making sure every minute detail of the film is just right. The movie looks wet, cold, and scary as hell.

Most of Nick Cave's score is pitch perfect. Watch for the scene where Viggo Mortensen and Kodi Smit-McPhee and hiding in the ditch. Whatever that primordial sound is it sent chills down my spine.

Unfortunately The Road is not only being marketed as an adventure film here, but it's almost being made to look like a backwoods horror film. While this is probably a very wise decision on the Weinstein's part - to get people to the cinemas who would otherwise not go in for a depressing PA flick - it is somewhat misrepresenting the book and, I imagine, the final film. Screenwriter Joe Penhall reportedly worked with Cormac McCarthy very closely to get the screenplay just right so lets hope that work gets translated to the screen.

Also, the trailer plays up the relationship between Charlize Theron and Viggo almost more than the father and son. Theron's in the film for all of ten minutes and mostly in flashbacks. I think they should have gone even further with the father son relationship to really sell the heart of the film and the sense of jeopardy the father feels throughout the story.

But enough of my babbling. What do you guys think?

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JOEL (14 years ago) Reply

OH MY F$%&.
Finally, while im not happy about the fast paced,holy crap its a super horror film. I must say, that the visuals looked incredible and I know that Hillcoat did his job.

Cant wait

quietearth (14 years ago) Reply

my eyes welled up.. it's so beautiful

Hot Fuzz (14 years ago) Reply

Just watched it 3 times. Once just wasn't enough. Amazing. Thanks for posting.

sonaboy (14 years ago) Reply

hmmm...without having read the source material, i figured The Road to be more of a slow burn. I guess they gotta pound the drums and swell the strings to sell the tickets..but whatever. make it look like an action film, i guess.

Joel (14 years ago) Reply

sonaboy, the trailer was way juiced up, but the film is completely different. Its all about the butts in the seats

agentorange (14 years ago) Reply

One thing I forgot to mention in the write up is the disaster footage that stats the trailer. In the book, it's never specified what actually happened. Was it a meteor? A nuclear war? It's a topic that has had people debating in our forums for a while.

This opening is almost more confusing as it makes it look like every disaster you can imagine happened. Floods, polar ice caps, lava eruption, super storms you name it. I just found it to be a little unnecessary, and since it's all found footage it adds little to the trailer visually.

Corey (14 years ago) Reply

WOW! Finally..holy crap. This was the best thing ive sceen all day! The disaster pieces at the beginning were alittle bit not my cup of tea..but i geuss you gotta sell this movie and play it up pretty swell. IT TOOK MY BREATH AWAY..(fast in the cuts)..but its not going to be like that in the actual film. I hope its spot on.

Anonymous (14 years ago) Reply

Lets hope its only for the trailer.

Now, did anyone noticed the Wilhelm scream?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_scream

pn2501 (14 years ago) Reply

Yeah agreed they have to appeal to the lowest common denominator, the positive is the movie is finished and i have faith in Hillcoat, yeah lets hope for a more subtle second trailer.

bad dog (14 years ago) Reply

Looks true to the book, looks like awesome PA, looks incredible. But gotta agree with AgentOrange, it's a little strange in the beginning where every type of natural disaster seems to happen all at once. In the book, there's a flash and that's it. And whatever it was, it was strong enough to scorch the mountains and blot out the sun for years.

mr_ex (14 years ago) Reply

Reading the screenplay reviews for The Road is what brought me to this site, and I've stayed ever since.

All I have to say is; Oh My God. Wow. Looks awesome. I agree with the above about the action sequences, but I guess they have to show the fast-paced parts to attract people in to the cinemas; it's the same with action movies always showing the best bits.

I cannot wait till this is released.

Anonymous (14 years ago) Reply

That looks really awesome. I'm sure they Hollywooded up the preview to draw a bigger crowd. I bet the actual film is truer to the novel. I can't wait.

soma (14 years ago) Reply

woo. just what the doctor ordered. finally.

Wilcoy (14 years ago) Reply

I agree the beginning leaves the impression that some kind of environmental apocalyptic cataclysm event began "The Road" can someone say "Global Warming". Anyhow It's there for the masses I guess it gives post apocalyptia a somewhat softer end of the world rather than 20 megaton ICBMs exploding all over the place or a mountain size rock impacting the Earth. OK, I regress all in all it looks great and the cold desolate look of the environment in the trailer shows that Hillcoat really got the landscape right. The musical score by Nick Cave sounds awesome and a point agentorange made about the score when both father and son are lying on the embankment hiding. It reminds me of the eerie primeval musical score used by Stanley Kubrick in "The Shining" which I think is very appropriate for this movie. Now like my favorite plant "Audrey Jr" would say from Roger Corman's 1960 "The little shop of horrors" FEED ME,,FEED ME,,MORE!!

Anonymous (14 years ago) Reply

Is it my imagination or is hollywood mass producing/manufacturing PA movies. Has post apocalypse finally gone mainstream and is accepted by hollywood and society ?

Kevin (14 years ago) Reply

I dont think it will be Globabl warming, the new footage breifly mentions a "sudden drop in temperature" and shows firestorms. Seems like meteors is the safe bet.

RazedinBlack (14 years ago) Reply

Its about time they released a trailer. Ive been following the progress of this film for a while and it looks like its gonna be a good one. Is it fall yet? I cant wait to see.

Diligent_Ape (14 years ago) Reply

Having recently finished the book, I must say this looks totally like I imagined it.

I doesn't surprise me that they've chosen to make the trailer more "action packed" and horrific than the book's general plot (remember the Fight Club trailer?). I think they did it for much the same reasons as everyone else here.

But the trailer _does_ indicate that the movie contains the same omnipresent felling of despair and desolation of the book... righteous!

palaeoclimatemonkey (14 years ago) Reply

Like everyone else, I think it looks fantastic. I have been thinking though; if all of the 'set-pieces' that have a little more action in them are included from the novel (the first run-in with the gang, the human harvest in the cellar, the thief, the flaregun shootout etc., then it will seem to be far more action-packed than the book. Just a case of different media I suppose...
As for the start of the trailer, the only thing I can think that would raise hell globally, would be meteor impact or the so called 'super volcanic' eruption of something like Yellowstone.

Jack (14 years ago) Reply

I always pictured nuclear war.

bad dog (14 years ago) Reply

I always pictured nuclear war too, but nobody seemed concerned about radiation in the book. I would agree it must be an asteroid or volcanic eruption. It would have to be something that could fill the atmosphere with ash, create massive firestorms, and blot out the sun long enough to pretty much kill every plant on the planet.

Anonymous (14 years ago) Reply

In the book, I thought the Dad died of radiation poisoning? Did other people imagine it was some other disease? I was always sure it was nuclear, as nuclear would cause the dust, the sun to be blotted out and all the rest of it. I guess when there's no food whatsoever, radiation sickness is the least of your worries.

Anonymous (14 years ago) Reply

It was never clear. I hope to god they havn't bottled it over the more extreme stuff in the novel 'chained catamites' and all. (Shiver).

Jeff (14 years ago) Reply

This looks great. I read the novel and followed the news here on QE. Never thought that Post-Apocalypse and Good News could be used in the same sentence!!

Stalker (14 years ago) Reply

No, sorry, it doesn't look fantastic...

But the novel is marvelous : http://stalker.hautetfort.com/archive/2008/12/11/the-road-by-cormac-mccarthy.html

Regards.

captmyron (14 years ago) Reply

first of all, the road haunted me like no other novel. it took me several months to read, because although i was drawn to it by its tragic prose, i also dreaded turning each page. it is the exploration of an intense relationship between two human beings that is turned on its head because of man's cruelty to man. as a father, it overwhelmed me. by the end, i was in tears. <rant mode on> that being said, i CANNOT BELIEVE the fanboi crap i'm reading (mostly) on this forum. i hope to god that the trailer is just "hollywood-ing" it up to get (as one poster put it) "butts in the seats." people are going to walk in expecting a dante's peak/28 days later/state of warning/deliverance/diehard/(whatever piece of crap movie that was where there's an ice age)/romance film. perhaps the delay is due to the fact that, like bladerunner, they delayed it to add what some studio executive thought were elements that would make them buckets of money <rant mode off>
respectfully,
captain myron

bad dog (14 years ago) Reply

(I hope people who visit here realize there are spoilers and to stay away if they haven't read the book ...)

I thought the dad died not of radiation poisoning, but the long term effect of breathing air filled with black ash. If he had radiation poisoning, he would have been dead pretty fast, especially considering he's starving. But yes it's otherwise ambiguous what the catastrophe was ...

Demalo (14 years ago) Reply

I liked that the book didn't allude to what actually happened that brought 'Armageddon' to the planet. I always assumed though that it wasn't some global changing weather event (alla global warming as it appears in the trailer) but rather an asteroid or mega volcanic eruption. I was thinking nuclear war initially, but I would think there would be way too much radiation.

Despite some of the additions and omissions made to the story, the movie still looks really interesting. General rule of thumb is that the book is better than the movie. If they did this movie right it can be as good as the book.

fulcrum (14 years ago) Reply

Every few years we are bombarded with key words that become common place in our vocabulary and part of pop-culture &acirc;&euro;&brvbar;key example, right now everything has to be &acirc;&euro;&oelig;echo friendly&acirc;&euro;&#157; &acirc;&euro;&brvbar;&acirc;&euro;&brvbar;.hey lets all &acirc;&euro;&oelig;go green &acirc;&euro;&oelig; and drive our &acirc;&euro;&oelig;hybrid &acirc;&euro;&oelig; to the movies and see how the earth will end because we are all bad, bad, wasteful consumers who are destroying the earth, and while you are at the movies enjoy some that new &acirc;&euro;&oelig;chipotle&acirc;&euro;&#157; ranch flavored popcorn!!!......I think that&acirc;&euro;&trade;s all this is, an attempt to use global warming&acirc;&euro;&brvbar;.because it sales, as the basis for the disaster in the movie&acirc;&euro;&brvbar;.I hope I&acirc;&euro;&trade;m wrong, I loved the book&acirc;&euro;&brvbar;.but if I&acirc;&euro;&trade;m right, I blame Al Gore!

Anonymous (14 years ago) Reply

That wasn't the Wilhelm Scream, that one's from a baaaad movie called the 9th Configuration. It also get's snuck in a lot though. Good catch

Eirik (14 years ago) Reply

The disaster that occurs almost has to be something instant. In the book, IIRC, there was a line that the clocks stopped at 1:17am. The problem is that the way the book is written, perhaps intentionally, McCarthy makes it very hard to decifer. There was a scene in the book where it sounded like they were traversing through the remains of a city that had been nuked, but none of the survivors appear to be concerned or suffering from radiation. Malnutrition and exposure, but no radiation.

I know I read that McCarthy was asked what the disaster was, and all he said was "We did it to ourselves".

Fat Legs (14 years ago) Reply

I often considered some kinda limited nuclear exchanges as being the intial harbinger of civilisations doom in The Road. Perhaps in the middle east or asian sub continent. Perhaps some kinda world wide escalation and EMP weapons taking out the power as well? Then a descent into civil chaos and carnage which snowballs into total global fubar and the whole house of cards comes tumbling down.
After reading Alan Weismans 'The World Without Us' my ideas on post apocalyptic enviroments totally changed. His points about the effects of the massive Texas oil refinery complexes eventually burning out of control and the melt down of nuclear reactors which would endless pump out radiation into the atmosphere like so many unentombed Chernobyls would fit the scenario in the book well. If memory serves, the boy is born as the apocalypse starts rolling leaving a good few years for a poisoned winter to begin and get really nasty before they actually set out on their journey. Imagine what a few years of oil fields, oil refinerys, industrial complexes and the odd city burning (and forest!) out of control would send up into the atmosphere? Season with a few regional nuclear showdowns and thats some pretty heavy weather.

Anyhow, speculation and too complex a set up for the quickfire zap pow hollywood fo sho etc. It's a shame they seem to have strayed away from the 'whats in the suitcase?' non explantion with news reports and stuff but everything else I've seen/read about this film suggests it will be an amazing adaptation. I am, to use quotations one last time 'well freakin excited Ron'

eirik (14 years ago) Reply

To be fair, it sounds like the news clips that start out the trailer are not actually in the movie. I think they work as a shorthand for people unfamiliar with the book to get them in the right frame of mind for what they are about to see. I think just starting with the shots of the ruined city (New Orleans?) might have thrown people a bit.

Bob Doto (14 years ago) Reply

Eirik, and this is totally unrelated. Are you Eirik of Miranda and Eirik? I've only met one Eirik, so I thought I'd ask.

In any event, trailer looks awesome. Going to buy/read book today.

Shoe (14 years ago) Reply

I read this book in anticpation of the movie a few months ago. I gave it to a friend after reading it as I will not be able to read it again. I will kiss my son goodnight and see this movie by myself, in the corner of the theater, hiding my tears and hoping I would do the same as the man if ever in situation.

CayceP (14 years ago) Reply

The novel was stunning- stark and the picture of a completely bleak world. The conspicuous lack of context (what the disaster was, where they are) made it that much better. But I believe it is inherently difficult for a film maker or company to get audiences without more drama and action, sad as it is.

Eirik (14 years ago) Reply

Bob: Nope, different Eirik. It's actually my middle name, courtesy of my Icelandic mother. It's actually short for Eirikur.

Bob Doto (14 years ago) Reply

Ok. I just read the book. If I hadn't I'd be thinking that this trailer looks like it's going to be a good edition to the PA canon. Problem is, I read the book and the book, once again, and like all books, can't really be translated. The trailer is really going for that over the top thing that just is not the same. That said, I'm excited to either A. be proven wrong, or B. accept the film as a unique and autonomous effort. We'll see!

pleeg3 (14 years ago) Reply

Read the book, this really doesn't look like the book I read. Loved the book and still have high hopes for the film. Since I have a one track mind, Nuclear War was what I thought. No matter what I'll love it even if it strays from the printed page....

sunolet (14 years ago) Reply

it looked like a horrible action flick

Hugh Marchant (13 years ago) Reply

What you're all witnessing in the trailer is a hollywood pitch - it is advertsing for a film based on a very popular but also very "un-hollywood" property. How do you sell a depressing film to a bunch of people who live on sugar and butter - make it exciting and "post-apocalyptic".

I think it's quite clear in the book (confirmed by author's comment "we did it to ourselves") that environmental collapse and social breakdown led to a point of no return and possible nuclear disasters... and the father dies of blood poisoning from the effects of being struck in the leg by an arrow crafted from a spoon - did you not read the end because it was "all too hard"?

Which leads me to my final point - what I find truly disturbing is that most of you seem to be fanboys who actually dwell in this negative mindset of destruction and chaos without realizing that thoughts like these become self-fulfilling prophecy - is this really how you expect culture and society to evolve? Do you really want your children's lives to end like this?

If not, do something positive to fight for the ultimate human right, a well-managed and ecologically sustainable industrial and agricultural industry, and a global population cap - invent positive solutions, don't dwell on disastrous ends.

donc48 (13 years ago) Reply

I have to answer Hugh in all due respect. There is something in Human Nature that causes people to abuse things, everything from double coupons to SSI. Technology is no different despite the reasons for the disaster that was the background to book and the movie The Road human beings simply don&acirc;&euro;&trade;t have a great track record of using things responsibly. My own believe is people will do something stupid to end this party it simply a matter of when. It will not be on purpose it will come right out of the sun, and nobody will see it coming until the things fall apart, because people will try and cover it up because that&acirc;&euro;&trade;s Human Nature, to avoid disaster a little less idealism, a little more realism.
Also to respond to your comment on a global population cap for starters Population in the industries world is dropping, and wherever countries have tried caps resulted in the slaughter of Girls in the womb

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