I was pleasantly surprised to stumble upon this post in Comic Book Movie of some guy musing about Rob in The Rover. It's not even a review...it's just a guy loving what Rob did with Rey and deciding to chat and theorize about Rob. It's not something we see normally - non-fandom, male bloggers just talking about Rob in such high regard. I had to read it twice to be sure I understood the words "superb", "epic", and "brilliance" in the proper context.
An excerpt is below!
Comic Book Movie Robert Pattinson: Our Sci-Fi Superman? Who knew?
After Twilight and other films who would suspect Pattinson had an interest in Sci-Fi? There's nothing "sparkly" about his role.
David Michôd’s The Rover is fantastic because it so well illustrates what we have been missing from so many other acting performances in the action-adventure genre.
You may have noticed that what we haven’t been getting lately in the Action-Adventure genre. A jolt, a reason for pause, a genuine sense of surprise in character development seems to elude us in so many films. For some reason many actors seem to forget they are: 1) the vehicle for wonder, 2) the translator of exception, 3) the provocateur of awe yet accomplishing any of these endeavors is very difficult. It’s difficult because the actor has to be willing to break convention, choose against formula, and frequently find rationales in character definition that may not be on the page. In other words the performance may contradict what we think the original text suggested. That’s right this performer has to be in large degree a rebel! This kind of artist can’t be a people pleaser, can’t seek to be popular, nor can he or she perform to win acceptance. These described bold attributions require guts, bravery and integrity, things that audiences don’t necessarily attribute to artists yet are apparent in the best performances (yes, even in Action-Adventure). As Rey, Robert Pattinson provides this kind of superb performance.
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Trying to avoid any really significant spoilers, let’s look at a far more recent epic performance. Back to The Rover, Robert Pattinson equally plays his character Rey as a bit of buffoon. Many critics have claimed he is as Guy Pearce’s character Eric sees him: a “half-wit.” Yet we’ll let you decide for yourself whether you think the character is mentally challenged. In a scene that is described (yet we don’t actually see it) Rey is shot and left for dead by his brother Henry (played by actor Scoot McNairy). Post traumatic syndrome disorder or PTSD could explain Rey’s odd or pathetic behavior as an effect of being horrified by stressful events. We only have character Archie’s (played by actor David) opinion that Rey’s behavior is typically that way to lead us to believe Rey is a dunce. Yet it’s his brother’s uncharacteristically violent reaction to these statements that make us believe that Archie statements may be entirely wrong. Many of the film’s depictions are equally this open ended, allowing a thoughtful audience to independently process the brilliance of the narrative.
Like the earlier Reeve portrait of a pathetic Clark, Pattinson’s performance helps us better understand how uncharacteristically brave, loyal and devoted he is to his virtual kidnapper Eric. Apparently separated by decades, bravery and brilliance from one actor demonstrates brilliance in another.
Though he has presented many nuanced characters since his most popular performance as Edward in the Twilight series, few roles have demonstrated how expansive Pattinson’s range actually is. Yes Edward, the character that sold the entire Twilight series has one thing in common with Rey from The Rover; actor Robert Pattinson.
Click HERE to read the post in its entirety!
Click HERE if you want to read reviews for The Rover!
It's happening already with critics and in social media corners but I hope we continue to see more guys ignoring their Twilight hate-bias and embracing Rob's evolving resume and considerable talents.
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