Road to Perdition | Review

Mendes’ has all the key ingredients, but narrative fails to make the emotional connection.

Q is for quality. I didn’t expect to see anything less in Road to Perdition, Sam Mendes’ follow-up to the critically acclaimed and my personal favourite film of 1999, American Beauty. Once the end credits roll up, you might not think the word Oscar, but there are some definite thumbs-up moments that will make any cinephile smile with glee. Through David Self’s screenplay, Mendes beautifully encapsulates the essence of the 1930s gangster period and his treatment of the ‘father’ and ‘son’ relationships of a three generation-two story arch further examines the complexities between of family, family union and family break-ups.

O is for Oscar, and l’enfant cheri of the Academy Award voting public-Tom Hanks has become synonymous with this award. The ‘star’ of the picture plays a role that asks him to shed his Jimmy Stewart good guy look for the tough guy lurking in the shadows character with a little stubble on the chin, the hat creeping slightly over the eyes to cover up his thoughts and the long trench coat to cover up the shot-em up machine guns. A fair performance from Hanks, but he is easily out shun by the supporting cast of Jude Law as another eccentric oddball-his A.I. role was just as flashy- and by the brilliant-damn-he-looks-good Paul Newman as the patriarch of the organization. Hanks as Michael Sullivan, is a man whose name alone brings fear into the lives of others. He follows his bosses’ orders with a definite professionalism that make him one of the best in his field of business-for the record, is not a salesman. When not at work, he is very much the regular meat and potatoes type of family guy, but all this changes when things go awry, Sullivan Sr. & Sullivan Jr. go on a personal journey that brings the family closer together in a Bonnie & Clyde operation mode, the plot unravels, a little dramatic tension is simmered up and blotches of red-stained shirts ensues.

The film’s ever-so predictable narrative doesn’t leave much to the imagination, with a little too much detailed explaining in a couple scenes takes away from the thought process. Perhaps, the true essence of the picture is the relationship arches, thus less emphasis was placed on keeping the audience in the state of intrigue. Mendes also makes the mistake of developing the Sullivan character as more than just your average smart man- he has a personal radar skill that makes him sense danger – the diner scene, and he makes the biggest of schemes-stealing Capone’s money. This carefully selected character trait contradicts with the film’s finale, where he falls victim to a trap in which he was already made aware of. This film’s conclusion comes off looking merely like another convoluted and unjustified story ending- the type of ending you’d expect for a picture going all out for the Oscar run, but you kind of wonder whether the ending was written well before the middle part. But the otherwise un-engaging plot doesn’t take away from the visual pleasure of the film with the beautifully shot photography of cinematographer Conrad Hall, who is pure genius in capturing Mendes’ vision- you get the impression that every shot was storyboarded for the best detail possible and the Jil Bilcock’s film editing compliments the direction of Mendes in much the same way he showed the brilliance in Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge! The other Newman as in form of Thomas- also part of the Beauty alumni, provides the film with the most basic of musical scores, a sort of filler music that lacks the creative ambiance that was so distinctive in Mendes directorial debut. Perhaps the film didn’t need the quirky backtrack found in the Oscar winning 1999 film, but the Newman/Hanks piano duet, could have become more than just one musical number that merits more than just a second encore. As a filmmaker friend of mine pointed out, they could have perhaps had a more effective score if they had used the same The Godfather-like idea of playing the same number in various forms during poignant scenes and throughout the picture.

The tension build-up sequence involving a shootout, a car horn and a stock-market ticker is just as good as the heavy rain downpour but there are not enough of these ‘surprising the audience’ elements that make Road to Perdition leagues away from other gangster films such as Goodfellas or The Godfather. However, this is probably the summer’s best film that despite the small annoyances has fantastic elements to offer with the fairly dark, shadowy approach with a hint of film noir and the Paul Newman nod for Best Supporting Actor performance.

Rating 3 stars