Watched Two Post-Apocalyptic Movies Recently

Recently I watched both The Book of Eli and The Road.  Both movies took place in the years after the Apocalypse and both were rather well done.

The Book of Eli deals with a one-man wrecking machine heading west where he needs to deliver an important book, the last of its kind.  During his travels he arrives at a town where a devious man acting as mayor or general ruler of said town is in search of said book, and when he finds that the extraordinary man who has recently entered his town and caused quite a ruckus has it, he will go to any extreme in acquiring it.

I liked everything about this film.  It was fast paced, action packed (and I'm no action fan), and thought provoking.  Essentially this was, like any post-apocalyptic film, a portrayal of what happens and how people survive and rebuild after world-wide devastation.  In this case things seem to have regressed into the wild west.  I would almost go as far as calling this film a post-apocalyptic western.  Yes, I think that label is about right, as far as labels go.

I give it 5/5 stars.

The second move, which I watched last night, was The Road.  This one will rip your heart out.  My wife was crying through much of the move and swore the next one we watch will be a comedy.  This film follows a man and his young son as they survive along the main highways, "the road" as they refer to it, in a post-apocalyptic wasteland where those who survive have began to turn inward after so many years of scavenging and are becoming cannibalistic.  The man is teaching his son how to survive after he dies, and as he becomes sick, he trusts no one, which has a detrimental affect on the boy who has a heart of gold.

This film is depressing, sad, and very well done.  Several of the sequences were so captivating that I felt nervous and terrified for the man and his son.  As I said from the get go, this one will rip your heart out, so don't watch it if you are depressed.  That's probably not a good idea.

I give it 5/5 stars

(Side note.  I don't give everything 5 stars, I just happened to see two great films back to back.  It is rare that a modern film captivates me as much as these did.  There's a lot of shit out there.  I think I got lucky with these two.)