“The Walking Dead” without the zombies but keeping the real monsters—people. In a post-apocalyptic world, an everyday man and his son struggle against starvation, the elements and especially those beasts that are called human beings. It’s never clear what exactly happened to the world—earthquakes, dead vegetation, and perpetually overcast skies dominate the grimly picturesque environment. Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn in the “Lord of the Rings” movies), always a fine actor, levitates the movie from the unbearably dreary stroll through desolation that the film could have been. It doesn’t transcend above the survival story that it is, and it doesn’t delve into social commentary about the dark nature of humankind like it could have, but the dad and his boy engage us quite well as they trek through this inhospitable and depressing world, much like Rick and his son Carl do in “The Walking Dead.”  Interestingly, this movie predates the first season of “The Walking Dead” by a year, but “The Walking Dead” first appeared as a comic book six years earlier.

Extras:

• That’s famed actor and Oscar-winner Robert Duvall who appears as the Old Man, almost unrecognizable (almost: I spotted him but wasn’t 100% sure until the end credits).