THE ROVER ***

David Michod's remarkable "The Rover" is like an episode from the 'Mad Max' franchise shorn of about 90% of the action. We are back in another futuristic post-apocalyptic Australia where cars and guns seem to be more valued than human life. One must assume Guy Pearce is the rover of the title who gets very pissed off when is car is stolen by a wounded Scoot McNairy and his associates. He certainly doesn't take it lying down, setting off in pursuit and picking up McNairy's brother, Robert Pattinson, on the way.

In Michod's world, life is short and brutal, (he also made "Animal Kingdom"), and while there are long stretches in which nothing happens, when something does you can rest assured it will be violent and often unexpected. If the premiss isn't particularly original, (most post-apocalyptic pictures tend to go down similar roads), Michod ensures that, even in its quietest moments, our interest never flags.
Both Pearce and Pattinson, acting for the most part without benefit of either dialogue or established character, are outstanding, (even if Pattinson seems to have seen too many Earl Holliman pictures), while DoP Natasha Braier makes the vast landscapes both beautiful and menacing. With this and "Animal Kingdom" under his belt Michod is now a name to look out for.