ROAD TO PERDITION by Sam Mendes
October 12th, 2004 by Andre Soares
Road to Perdition (2002) 
Director: Sam Mendes. Screenplay: David Self, from Max Allan Collins and Richard Piers Rayner’s graphic novel. Cast: Tom Hanks, Paul Newman, Jude Law, Tyler Hoechlin, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Stanley Tucci, Daniel Craig, Dylan Baker, Ciarán Hinds, Liam Aiken
ALL IN THE FAMILY
British director Sam Mendes won an Academy Award for his first film, American Beauty, released in 1999. Three years later, for his second film, Road to Perdition, Mendes once again relies on the assistance of cinematographer Conrad L. Hall to create another stylized look at dysfunctional American families. But instead of 1990s suburbia, Road to Perdition throws us into the warped universe of a Depression-era Midwestern town, a place where family values include loyalty, faith, extortion, and murder.
Portrayed by a stolid-faced Tom Hanks, Michael Sullivan is the Angel of Death: a hit man out to avenge the murder of his wife and younger son. This is the stuff one finds at the core of great drama; Greek tragedies, in fact, for the murderer is the son of Sullivan’s own beloved adoptive father, crime boss John Rooney (Paul Newman). In order to protect his biological son, Connor (Daniel Craig, a psychotic carbon copy of early MGM star Lee Tracy), Rooney wants his equally beloved adoptive son killed. These are the makings of a great modern tragedy, a promise that goes unfulfilled because the Road to Perdition is chock-full of plot holes (e.g., Connor doesn’t know — nor does he apparently care about — which Sullivan boy he murders) and clichés (e.g., farm life is good; urban life is evil).
On the positive side, Mendes and Hall (who received a posthumous Academy Award for his work in this film) do create some brilliant atmospheric shots, such as a dreamlike massacre on a rainy night that is as powerful as it is unrealistic, while the film’s period reconstruction is for the most part quite impressive. (The phony speakeasy-cum-bordello sequence is one glaring exception.)
And as a plus, Road to Perdition offers what may well be Paul Newman’s greatest performance. Had the other actors been given as many good lines as Newman — "Natural law. Sons are put on this earth to trouble their fathers" — and extracted as much out of them as Newman does, this average thriller would have gotten considerably closer to the great tragedy it aims to be.
Synopsis:
A young boy reminisces about the winter of 1931, a time when he and his father were on the run from a hired killer and assorted gangsters. Things had been better earlier, when Michael Sullivan (Tom Hanks) worked as a hit man for Irish mafia boss John Rooney (Paul Newman). Sullivan, in fact, had been raised by Rooney and loved the old man as if he were his own father. But it all changed for the worse after the 12-year-old Michael Sullivan, Jr. (Tyler Hoechlin), sneaked into his father’s car and witnessed Rooney’s biological son, Connor (Daniel Craig), kill a man at point blank. The psychopathic Connor decides to get rid of the young witness, but ends up killing the boy’s mother and younger brother instead.
More murders are to follow, as the bereaved Sullivan becomes obsessed with extracting revenge. First, however, he must deal with the organized crime bosses who, at least for the time being, want to protect the stability of their business dealings. He must also keep running one step ahead of a bloodthirsty photographer and hit man, Maguire (Jude Law), a creepy figure hired by John Rooney to kill Sullivan.
DVD:
Three DVD versions of Road to Perdition are currently available via Dreamworks in the U.S.: Widescreen, DTS, and Full Screen. They all come with audio commentary by director Sam Mendes; photo galleries, 11 deleted scenes, close-captioning, a making-of infomercial, among other extras.
A widescreen European release via Twentieth-Century Fox Home Entertainment offers similar features.
The DVD offers solid picture / sound transfer, as to be expected, but aside from Mendes’ commentary and the soundtrack CD, the extras are quite unimpressive. With one major exception, the 11 deleted scenes are extremely brief, and add little to nothing to our understanding of the film. The one exception is the scene in which an over-the-top Anthony LaPaglia plays Al Capone — proof positive that Mendes was right in getting Capone/LaPaglia out of the picture.
As for Mendes’ commentary, it is interesting in spots, though the director spends too much time simply telling us what we can see for ourselves. The more interesting background stories and directorial choices do pop up in his commentary, but only intermittently. In fact, there’s precious little in Mendes’ narrative that is truly illuminating or memorable.
List price: US$14.99.
Notes:
The storyline is based on the real events in the lives of organized crime boss John Looney and his son Connor.
Maguire is based on Arthur Fellig, a photographer who owned a special radio that allowed him to eavesdrop on police and fire department alerts. Fellig was thus able to arrive at crime and disaster scenes as if he possessed telepathic powers (hence his nickname, Weegee, a corruption of "Ouija"). In 1941, some of his work was exhibited under the banner "Weegee: Murder Is My Business."
Director Sam Mendes plays one of the bodyguards who get shot in the rainy night massacre. In order to get the dreamlike quality of that scene, Mendes played it without any "real" sound. Until Tom Hanks confronts Paul Newman face to face at the end of that sequence, all we hear is the sound of Thomas Newman’s haunting score.
LA MALA EDUCACIÓN / BAD EDUCATION
MIVTSA YONATAN / OPERATION THUNDERBOLT
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