On Less is Less with The Rover

The Rover (or Dude, Where’s My Car?) is a stripped back, visual and primitive film experience. The direction is stark, as is the landscape and the acting is designed to feel instinctive rather than active. Little is said and what is said is rarely explorative of the characters, simply reflecting a need to speak, rather than a desire to. In fact much of The Rover is about needs and not desires. The characters (of whom there are few) need something from each other and reach for it directly. There is no double talk or hidden agendas here. In this way it reflects the ideologies of the straight talking western hero, much like the intertextual reference Mad Max (1979) a clear point of inspiration. Both films are future dystopian westerns where life is easy to loose.

All of this makes for appealing advertising. The Rover looks good and in small bites can be made to sound good. The actors are talented and Guy Pearce carries the film by making it seem like he is doing very little when in fact he is displaying great talent. He is a lost wanderer, like the title suggests and, as with the direction, Pearce understands that with The Rover less is more. But unfortunately with the narrative less is less. The script reveals little throughout and offers nothing at the end, making its sparse narrative exasperating not intelligent. In fact, the end reveal could render much of what came before frustrating if you let it. Instead, there is a lot to enjoy in The Rover as a visual piece, just not as a narrative one. 

On Guardians of the Galaxy

It says something about the Marvel canon of films that moving into space is considered an experimental and risky move. But it’s not surprising for fans of the Marvel films; they have become so stale and repetitive that seeing Guardians of the Galaxy must be akin to regular cinema viewers seeing 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) for the first time.

Yet this is unfair to Guardians. Compared to its little brothers and sisters of the studio it is a leap forward into a more enjoyable, sharper type of cinema. Compared to the wider genre, it is still fun, calling to mind 2005’s Serenity, but without the darkness that film had. The detail in the setting creates a ‘believable’ other world and does not feel too far from Star Wars - A New Hope (1977). This all makes for a fun film, but perhaps Guardians biggest skill is in its easy nostalgia.

For young children the film offers much, but from its opening scene of a young boy listening to a Sony Walkman in 1988, the film taps into a sense of adventure that its audience (that will be mostly male) will enjoy. It’s hard to be critical about something that calls to mind such fond memories of playing the hero. The film is very well cast and the direction is solid, moving between comedy and pathos with ease. Guardians of the Galaxy in its own way is a form of pastiche. Imitating the Marvel films, but with a greater sense of self-awareness, leading to genuine humour.