The Road to Perdition Review
by David N. Butterworth (dnb AT dca DOT net)July 18th, 2002
ROAD TO PERDITION
A film review by David N. Butterworth
Copyright 2002 David N. Butterworth
*** (out of ****)
Michael Sullivan Jr. doesn't know what his father, Michael Sullivan, does for a living. Not exactly. What the 12-year-old does know is that his father works for Mr. Rooney, a grandfatherly old gentleman with a big estate and pots of
money who gave them, the Sullivans, a fighting chance way back when--a home, employment, a fresh start. Michael and his younger brother Peter like Mr. Rooney,
run to hug him like a favorite Uncle. And the old man likes to play dice with the boys even though Michael's father tells his son--as they leave for a wake for a fallen colleague hosted by the munificent Rooney--to leave the dice at
home.
One ominous and rain swept night Michael the younger learns his father's
trade the hard way (he stows away under the back seat of Dad's car on his way to a "job") and it changes his life forever. Peering into a dimly-lit basement
room Michael witnesses the recently deceased man's brother, who was quickly removed from the funeral when he started to speak his mind, shot in the head point blank by Rooney's loose cannon of a son Connor, who accompanied Sullivan there that evening. Others present quickly draw their arms but a Tommy gun opens fire and shell casings fall at what can only be his father's feet.
It's at this point that Michael realizes with horror the role his father
plays in this scenario, a hired assassin to Rooney's godfather.
But the deaths don't end there; soon they hit much closer to home.
It is the winter of 1931 and the two Michael Sullivans take to the road.
As the opening narration of "Road to Perdition" muses, these six weeks on the lam with his father (first to Perdition, where his aunt Sarah lives) affords Michael Jr. the opportunity to determine whether his father was a good man shaped
by circumstance to commit evil deeds, or simply an evil man without a trace of goodness in him.
As viewers of Sam Mendes's period drama, his first film since the Oscar®-winning
"American Beauty" three years ago, we too are given the opportunity to interpret
the motivations of Michael Sullivan Sr. He's played by Tom Hanks and played, one might say, against type, although the more you learn about the character the more you come to understand why Hanks probably wanted to play him. It's another solid performance from the four-time Oscar-winner. Equally strong is Paul Newman as John Rooney, whose silent, weathered face speaks volumes throughout,
and the film boasts another controlled performance by Jude Law ("Artificial Intelligence: AI") as a photographer who "shoots dead people" as well as a few live ones--he's sent to hunt down Sullivan and his son. Not to be denied, however,
is Tyler Hoechlin as the young boy at the center of this sumptuous, graphic tale. It would be an exemplary performance in its own right but when you figure
that this is only the young actor's third film and that he holds his own against
the likes of Hanks and Newman, well... that's impressive.
"Road to Perdition" is finely acted, gorgeously photographed (by veteran
cinematographer Conrad Hall), delicately scored (another fine composition courtesy
"American Beauty"'s Thomas Newman), and forever engaging. Unlike with "American
Beauty," however, which shied away from convention at every opportunity, Mendes
tends to favor traditional elements of the genre--gunplay, bloodletting, big speeches--in a way what tends to dilute the less cinematic but clearly more intriguing elements of the story, those of the father/son dynamic (and there are several of these in the film). I'd have preferred more insights and less staged shoot-outs.
That minor quibble aside, "Road to Perdition" is a provocative drama that will be remembered, first and foremost, for its performances come Oscar night. As road movies go, this trip is definitely one worth taking.
--
David N. Butterworth
dnb@dca.net
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