It still looks great, and I haven't read the book. That music was horrid, though.

This trailer is definitely better than the first one. I'm not looking for it to replace the book, which it never could, just supplement it. Looking at the same emotions just from a slightly different angle.

The music however sounds awesome. Nick Cave, as proved by his soundtracks to The Proposition and the Assassination of Jesse James, is the soundtrack king and this sounds to be no exception. Can't wait to get a hold of the soundtrack.

This trailer was fantastic.
I think having read the book (and loving it, along with knowing how it all ends,) the trailer does a good job showing how strong and powerful the relationship between the father and son is. And I feel thats one of the biggest things that people take from reading the book and hopefully will be the same with seeing the movie.
Now we can finally see the movie in less than a month!

No movie can ever replace a book simply because no movie ever SHOULD replace a book. They are two different media, and if someone tries to make the perfectly faithful adaptation, it will fail. All the filmmaker can try to do is make the perfect movie out of what the book has given him. When I say a book its better than its movie adaptation (or a movie than its book), I mean that one succeeded in its medium more than the other.

I agree the music choice for this trailer was terrible. It's a depressing, post-apocalyptic film, not a new Rocky movie.

** "I highly suggest you hold off because the images on the screen can't hold up to the words on the page even if this is about as faithful an adaptation as you could get."

That seems like an unusual suggestion, Brad. Are you saying, "The movie can't possibly be as good as the novel, so please see the movie first so that you'll never be able to appreciate the novel on its own"?

That's a harsh punishment for Cormac McCarthy, isn't it? What did he ever do you, dude? ;-)

I'd advise just the opposite: For anyone who hasn't yet read the novel, you're missing a masterpiece. Rush out and buy a copy and read it as soon as possible. If the images on the screen can somehow manage to match the power of the words on the page, then you'll enjoy the movie even more for how faithful it appears to be.

If the movie fails to live up to the book then you haven't forever ruined a clear-eyed unadulterated experience of the book for yourself.

I guess I'm saying there's more to life than movies. There are other art forms, and none should take a backseat to any other.

Personally, I don't see a single shot in this trailer that's not incredibly faithful to McCarthy's novel. It's eerily brought to life. I'm so psyched. This looks like one of most important films of the year to me.

But more importantly, are we going to let 30 seconds of music that's not in a mournful minor key tell us that the movie suddenly detours into The Yellow Brick Road halfway through? I thought we all knew that trailers are meant to make people interested — not make them want to slit their wrists.

They can slit their wrists after the movie. And besides, if you guys don't think The Man is motivated by an overriding hope that he can find a way to safety for his son, and a dream for him to inhabit, then why didn't he use his last two bullets in the first 5 minutes of the movie?

@Ryan Adams: I agree with you entirely, but my suggestion was based solely on if you are interested in seeing the movie, because this is a movie I think is ruined if you have read the book beforehand. Quite frankly, I was rather bored by it as a result.

I would say, however, just skip the movie outright and read the novel if we wanted to really go drastic. :)

Also, "They can slit their wrists after the movie." is a classic, classic line… Solid work there.

ha! well, I envy you for having seen the movie already, Brad, and I'm trying not to be discouraged because you didn't like it.

It was hard to stay optimistic about the outcome of the novel while reading it, but McCarthy kept bringing me back from the brink of despair — in the same way he allowed The Man and The Boy to continue to forge onward when all seemed lost, stumbling into bits of luck in the nick of time, almost like following a trail of crumbs. That helped keep my own inner fire burning since I felt it was almost some sort of divine providence leading them along.

That's why I don't think the hopeful shift in the trailer is entirely misleading, and I'm trying to cling to my own hopes that somehow Hillcoat has pulled this off.

But it's easy for me to be optimistic since I haven't had a double dose of Road gloom like you have. I'm impressed you can summon the willpower to blog, Brad. You must have a lot of canned goods stashed away.

Seriously though, the novel wiped me out for a couple of days, and I'll be disappointed if the movie doesn't slap the smile off my face for at least a few hours. But back to the novel vs. book thing, I'd still recommend reading at least part of the novel before seeing the film, so moviegoers don't think Hillcoat is this grim all on his own.

I'm still immature enough that I lose interest in reading if I know exactly how a book ends. I was driven along by my desire to see where father and son would end up. It's easier for me to watch a movie for two hours if I know the ending than it is for me to invest 10 hours finishing a book after I know where it's going.

and, um, yeah, good luck trying to get anybody to skip the movie altogether and rely entirely on the novel. Given an strict either/or choice like that, I'd be burning the book to heat up a can of bean dip for my movie nachos.

oh, and if you search youtube for "The Road OST" you'll find 3 tracks from the movie by Nick Cave & Warren Ellis. The music ranges from forlorn to funereal to royally fucked.

Thankfully there's no trace of any song that sounds like an overture to the Lollipop Guild crawling out of a ditch.

Personally, I love the book. And I have a way of watching adaptations of books, where I try to cut out the differences between book and film, and enjoy it purely as a cinematic story. It doesn't have to be a perfect representation of the book, as long as it is successful as a movie.
Is this the case with The Road?

@Jeremy Baril: Personally, I don't think so. The film is almost too on the nose, but is missing a certain something. Like I mention in the article, there's a spark of life it's missing. I got a mild impression of hope from the novel that I don't think exists in the film whatsoever, but I guess it depends on what story you saw in your mind's eye while reading.

@Ryan Adams: I believe he was saying the exact opposite.

It should be that way too. I have read the book 3 times and I enjoy every time.

If you haven't read it, go pick it up. It didn't win a pulitzer prize for nothing.

I agree with Brad here. While the film is a very literal and faithful adaptation of the novel, it doesn't add anything to the book. By this i mean there is no sense that Hillcoat actually has his own fresh angle on the story. BUT it is a good adaptation nonetheless- well acted, amazing landscapes. It just doesn't reach for anything that the medium of cinema can provide which literature can't.