There's a lot of high-quality fare hitting theaters today, but we know which film a certain sect of die-hard fangirls will be going to see. Quite what the young R.Pattz-fixated contingent will make of “The Rover,” David Michod's dark, dystopian western, is another question altogether. Pattinson acquits himself well in this striking sophomore effort from the Australian director of “Animal Kingdom,” and Guy Pearce is on particularly strong form as an ex-soldier out for revenge in a barren post-apocalyptic desertscape.
Despite the actors' commitment and Michod's brisk command of atmosphere, however, the film didn't quite connect for me — I found it a grim, tonally unyielding challenge, impressive in many respects but never quite engrossing. Drew McWeeny had his own reservations at Cannes, but no critical consensus appears to have been reached on this one. So, over to you — does it deliver on the promise of the talent involved? Tell us in the comments, and vote in the poll below.