Butler's Cinema Scene

Guy Pearce, Robert Pattinson in “The Rover”

“THE ROVER”   My rating: B- (Opening Jan. 20 at the AMC Town Center)

102 minutes | MPAA rating: R

There must be something about the wide open spaces of Australia’s outback that drives its filmmakers to post-apocalyptic nihilism.

George Miller and the “Mad Max” films.   John Hilcoat with “The Road” and “The Proposition.”

And now David Michôd with “The Rover,” a sweaty, dusty saga about a man in search of his kidnapped car.

Michôd scored a minor coup in 2010 with “Animal Kingdom,” an intimate portrait of a low-level Aussie crime clan that introduced to American audiences the great Jackie Weaver (who nabbed an Oscar nomination). It  was a dark, generally hopeless look at the ties that bind its characters to an evil enterprise.

Now  Michôd goes full-tilt dystopia. The opening credits of “The Rover”  informs us that the story takes place 10 years after “the collapse,” a worldwide economic meltdown that has left most of humanity struggling with chronic poverty.

Eric (Guy Pearce) is a shaggy, unwashed loner living out of his car.  It’s not all that much of a vehicle, just a standard-issue four-door sedan.  But apparently he’s greatly attached to it, because when three crooks seize it to make their getaway, Eric takes off in single minded pursuit.

Before long he’s picked up a wingman of sorts.  Rey (Robert Pattinson), is the younger brother of one of the crooks.  Shot during the gang’s latest robbery, he was left for dead. Now Eric sees Rey as his best hope of locating the miscreants in this vast, desert-like landscape and recovering the car.

What’s so great about this car, anyway?  The screenplay by Michôd and Joel Edgerton (the latter an actor with a growing list of impressive behind-the-camera credits) doesn’t tell us much about the car or about Eric, a scowling fellow who says nothing unless it’s absolutely necessary. Maybe he’s just mad about being robbed.  Whatever his motivation, his resolve is unshakable, with bodies piling up as he pursues his automotive rescue mission. He may be our protagonist, but he’s not appreciably more ethical than the men he’s chasing.

Pattinson, meanwhile, portrays a twitching, slack-jawed halfwit with the conviction of a matinee idol determined to alienate every teenage “Twilight” fan who ever stared lovingly at his mug on her bedroom wall.

Seriously, folks, it may be the best acting of Pattinson’s career. Rey is the human equivalent of a stray dog (is he “The Rover” of the title?) who licks the hand (figuratively speaking) of any human who shows him the slightest kindness.  Eric’s treatment of his prisoner isn’t exactly kind, but he does find a doctor to patch up Rey’s wounds, and by the end of their long journey across the desert Rey is ready to kill on behalf of his new master.

You may not like their characters, but Pearce’s and Pattinson’s performances elevate the material to something vaguely tragic.

Michôd and cinematographer Natasha Braier dwell on both the inhospitable geography of the outback and on the pitted landscape of human faces, with the result that “The Rover” is simultaneously expansive and claustrophobic.

Special mention must be made of Antony Partos’ weirdly compelling musical score, which is crammed with percussive, atonal themes. We’re talking farting bassoons and something that sounds like an upright bass being whacked with a car antennae. It’s designed to keep us off balance without ever being remotely beautiful — and it does just that.

| Robert W. Butler