Bleak, brutal, and ultimately pointless, the film stars Guy Pearce as a man whose car is stolen and who won't rest until he not only gets it back but also punishes, with extreme prejudice, the dirtbags who took it.

| Original Score: C- | Dec 3, 2014

The Rover equals only sporadically the fraught tension of Michôd's debut, Animal Kingdom (2010), but its horrors feel baked-in and genetic.

| Aug 21, 2014

That final surprising coda (it surprised this reviewer, anyway) goes some way towards making sense of the whole mad enterprise.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 16, 2014

[A] dour, inert vision of the future - a disappointing follow-up to Michod's cracking 2010 debut, Animal Kingdom.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Aug 15, 2014

Brutal as it is, The Rover evolves into a strange kind of buddy movie. Squint and you might be watching a nihilistic Rain Man.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 14, 2014

Of Mice and Men at the end of the world -- that's the general turf of The Rover.

| Jul 7, 2014

The deadpan irony of the final sequence feels like the punch line of a mournful but very thin joke.

| Jul 6, 2014

Director David Michod's follow-up to his acclaimed debut, Animal Kingdom, is effective in an elemental way.

| Original Score: B- | Jun 20, 2014

Like many a late 21st century Western -- regardless of the land of its origins -- The Rover asks what happens on the downslope of Manifest Destiny? As hot, parched and heated as the atmosphere is, the answers are chilling.

Full Review | Jun 20, 2014

The destination doesn't feel worth the journey.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jun 20, 2014

Writer-director David Michod ("Animal Kingdom") likes his violence, but what he's really offering here is an odd bond between two severely damaged men who have little in common beyond the damage.

| Original Score: B | Jun 20, 2014

An evocative, moody road movie through the Australian Outback that's as sparse and dry as the desolate landscape it traverses, its deliberate rhythm punctuated by short periods of shocking, bloody violence.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jun 20, 2014

The Rover does have a central nervous system that crackles and pops with suspense, but in the end it's not enough to jump-start the lack of narrative.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Jun 19, 2014

While it's never less than compelling, the characters here are ciphers (particularly a deeply troubled young man played by a grunting Robert Pattinson) and the violence feels wearingly familiar.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Jun 19, 2014

It's not just the lack of dialogue but a thin story that keeps this nihilistic tale from conveying a convincing sense of suspense. Too many details are withheld to keep the audience captivated.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Jun 19, 2014

A beautifully shot post-apocalyptic fever dream that might have worked as a short but is inconsequential as a feature film.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Jun 19, 2014

What makes "The Rover" more watchable than the average self-conscious genre exercise is Pearce, who exudes such weary authority and palpable vulnerability that he's sympathetic even in the film's most brutalizing moments.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jun 19, 2014

There's a thin line between the iconic and the generic, and "The Rover," a grim post-apocalyptic drama from down under, wanders back and forth across it in an adrenaline daze.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Jun 19, 2014

You might call it a morality play, if there were any morality to speak of at play.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Jun 19, 2014

This tough, violent and starkly impressive thriller succeeds in its main aim, which is to keep the viewer on the edge of the seat.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 19, 2014