The Road

Data
Title: The Road
Year: 2009
Length: 111 minutes
Director: John Hillcoat
Writer: Joe Penhall, based on the novel by Cormac McCarthy
Starring: Viggo Mortensen, Kodi Smit-McPhee
Music: Nick Cave & Warren Ellis

My reaction
Synopsis: a man and his son try to survive in a dead world
How I saw it: in the theater, a couple days ago
Concept: Great.
Story: Good. The script is disappointing, considering what they were starting with. It's the Harry Potter 1 & 2 approach to adaptation: faithful to the plot points at the expense of just about everything else. It feels like The Road's greatest hits. It would have been much better if they'd taken just six or seven scenes and done them in depth; instead they've got tiny excerpts from what seems like every scene in the book.
Characters: Good. A basic understanding of character motivations are one of the notable aspects that didn't make the adaptation's cut.
Dialog: Good.
Pacing: Bad.
Cinematography: Good.
Special effects/design: Great.
Acting: Good.  There's nothing wrong with the acting, but I expected a lot more.
Music: Good.
Subjective Rating: 7/10 (Good). It's really hard to tell what I would have thought about this movie if I hadn't read the book, much more so than usual for an adapted novel. It might be a great movie, but I can only see it in comparison with the book, and I does not stand up to the book.
Objective Rating: 3.0/4 (Good).