The Road to Perdition Review
by Eugene Novikov (eugenen AT wharton DOT upenn DOT edu)August 6th, 2002
Road to Perdition (2002)
Reviewed by Eugene Novikov
http://www.ultimate-movie.com/
Starring Tom Hanks, Paul Newman, Tyler Hoechlin, Jude Law, Stanley Tucci.
Directed by Sam Mendes.
Rated PG-13.
"This is the life we chose, the life we lead. And there is only one guarantee: none of us will see heaven."
Road to Perdition, Sam Mendes' follow-up to American Beauty, is an almost indescribably beautiful movie, a living painting, every shot an elaborate composition of dark greens and browns. This time, however, he doesn't have quite the script to back him up; David Self's work is engaging enough, and not but also so enamored with gangster movie archetypes as to be predictable. That said, there isn't much that can really detract from the virtuoso performances by Tom Hanks and Paul Newman, icons from two generations, both at the top of their game.
Hanks is Mike Sullivan, a hitman working for local mob boss John Rooney (Newman). Sullivan, like many of the people in his sleepy small town, owes Rooney his livelyhood, his life, his home. His two boys don't know the details of their father's profession, but Michael, the older, suspects something. When Sullivan takes off with Rooney's cocky, irritating son Connor on a routine job, little Michael sneaks along under the back seat of the and witnesses a shooting that was not supposed to be.
At this point, Connor comes after Sullivan and his family, killing his wife (Jennifer Jason Leigh) and younger son and forcing him and Michael to flee. He goes to the city to see Frank Nitti (Stanley Tucci), the local don, and ask for help; not only is he refused, but he leaves there with a hit man (Jude Law) after him. He decides to start robbing banks of dirty money and force the local mob contingent to leave him and his son alone.
Even if the material he's working with isn't always up to the standard of his first project, Mendes proves, if nothing else, that American Beauty was no fluke: his filmmaking remains remarkably confident, with a few pure movie moments ingrained themselves in my memory. It should be noted that, between Mendes and Shyamalan, the new breed of Hollywood filmmakers is showing a distinct trend towards minimalism; one of the film's most amazing scenes shows Sullivan walk down a hallway, turn into a side door to see the bodies of his wife and son while the camera remains planted in the hallway, showing us nothing.
It is further becoming evident that one of Mendes' many cinematic fortĪs is inevitability. The prologue narration of American Beauty famously announced that the main character is only a few short days away from his demise. Road to Perdition features no such proclamation, but there is little doubt about where the plot is heading, and there is also little doubt that Mendes wants it this way. Unfortunately, while that worked beautifully with American Beauty's aggressively unorthodox storytelling, he simply loses his ability to surprise us when working with the more conventional narrative of a movie like this. While the final words of Kevin Spacey as American Beauty faded to black threatened to stop the heart, the voice-over at the conclusion here overstates the obvious.
While its a letdown to find fairly quickly that this movie is going to take all the storytelling steps one expects it too, Mendes still finds ways to make this brooding, fatalistic inevitability work to his advantage. The final scenes draw tension precisely from the fact that we know what is about to happen and are anxiously expecting it. And even though we know who That Particular Dead Body is, there is still a thrill as that bathroom door swings closed and reveals his identity.
Hanks doesn't usually take roles like this, but he's fairly spectacular, his character more burdened with the duty of protecting his kin than Spider-Man. Nothing, however, beats the joy of watching Paul Newman, no longer catatonic (though I would have loved to see Linda Fiorentino again; what the hell happened to her?), sink his teeth into his most substantial role since, I dunno, Nobody's Fool? He is burdened with a duty of a different sort, and gives one of the most poignant performances of the year.
With his follow-up feature, Mendes proves that he is more than just Hollywood's latest boy wonder, but an impeccable stylist; watching his films is like being Robin Williams as he walks through the virtual painting in What Dreams May Come. If he has a weakness, in fact, it's that his stories are almost a distraction to his visual compositions. Even if Road to Perdition doesn't pick up any Oscars, Mendes deserves our continued attention.
Grade: B+
Up Next: Reign of Fire
©2002 Eugene Novikov
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