The Rover (Blu-ray)

The promise of Australian director David Michôds debut feature, Animal Kingdom, is amply realized in The Rover, a post-apocalyptic road movie of sorts set a decade after some unspecified cataclysm has turned the world  or at least one far-off corner of it  into a mercenary no-mans-land. Tipping its hat to George Millers Mad Max trilogy while striking a more somber, introspective tone, Michôds sophomore feature isnt exactly something weve never seen before, but it has a desolate beauty all its own, and a career-redefining performance by Robert Pattinson& Exactly what has gone wrong in the world& is never explicitly stated here; nor are the motivations of the films taciturn central character, Eric (Guy Pearce), up until a deftly handled and unexpectedly moving final scene. All we know for most of The Rover is that Eric really, really wants to regain ownership of his car& Those looking for big action and bombast will inevitably be disappointed, but Michôd (who also wrote the script, based on a story he conceived with actor-writer-director Joel Edgerton) strikes an eerie, unsettling tension early on and rarely lets go.  Scott Foundas, Variety