Road to Perdition (Full Screen Edition)

Rating:
Summary: Not just a gangster film...
Review: As much of a gangster film nut as I am, to pigeonhole Road to Perdition as strictly that would be a tragic error. This isn't just some revenge flick with Tommy guns. The gangster angle, entertaining as it is, is simply backdrop for the actual theme: the love that exists between fathers and sons.

That's why the gangster scenes work so well. One reviewer wrote of the subtleties of Hanks as a hit man. I think that's why his performance is so brilliant here. He plays Michael Sullivan as a family man, as much as a father and husband who provides for his family in the employ of local Irish mobster Mr. Rooney, the other father figure in this piece. Paul Newman is incredibly effective here, both as surrogate father to Michael and actual father to his own child. The Rooney story is more the tragedy, and maybe the more grounded of the father/son pairs.

Both Sullivan and Rooney obviously are willing to do whatever they can to protect their sons. The gangster angle merely gives these characters more interesting tools to tell the story with.

Once again, director Sam Mendes manages to find the heart of this tale, and capture it brilliantly. The pallate of color and directorial choices lend more to Leone's Once Upon A Time In America, visually, than Coppola or Scorcese. Performances by Jude Law and Stanley Tucci as Capone button-man Frank Niti are equally nuanced. Tucci's Niti isn't the greasy foppish "try and catch me, g-man" caricature of DePalma's Untouchables. Rather, more of a businessman who understands all of the variables in his business.

Even the bank robberies are well handled, not because Mendes does anything new here, but because they are a device to illustrate not just Sullivan's strength of Character (he tells bank managers that he only wants "dirty money") but to also chronicle the growing bond between Michael and his son.

Tyler Hoechlin is one of the better young actors to be found lately. He actually acts, not play-acts like a lot of annoying child actors do. Hoechlin actually has talent; he knows instinctively where to rein in his performance. The point of view on the movie's events through his eyes reflect not just his innocence, but how his changes from a child's to an adult's. The choice he makes at the end brings it all home without relying on melodrama at all.

There are no perfect characters in this movie. Everyone in the film are absolutely well-rounded; no archetyping here. Mendes creates a phenomenal piece of work. It almost reminded me of the Japanese series Lone Wolf & Cub, especially the showdown in the Kurosawa-esque oppressive, sheeting rain.

P.S. the scene where Michael tries to teach his son to drive is so authentic, I found myself remembering my dad trying to do the same thing. If I remember correctly, neither of us did as well as these two.

If you don't know what to get your dad for Christmas, his birthday, Father's Day, Road to Perdition a perfect film to get.

Rating:
Summary: "There is only one guarantee. None of us will see Heaven."
Review: This suspense-filled story of hitman Michael Sullivan, directed by Sam Mendes, has as much style and cinematic brilliance as his American Beauty, though it is much darker. Sullivan (Tom Hanks), the adoptive son of John Rooney (Paul Newman), is a cold-blooded killer working for his crime boss "father" in the winter of 1931, when his own twelve-year-old son, Mike Jr., inadvertently witnesses a "hit" in which his father participates.

Subsequently, the Sullivans, father and son, take off for Chicago to meet with Frank Nitti (Stanley Tucci), underworld lieutenant to Al Capone. Mike Sullivan, Sr. is also hoping to get to Perdition, an appropriately named Midwestern town, so he can leave is son with his sister-in-law. Sadistic hitman Harlan Maguire (Jude Law), who enjoys photographing the death throes of his victims, is soon on the Sullivans' trail to through the midwest.

Conrad L. Hall, to whom the film is dedicated, uses photography to its fullest advantage winning a posthumous Academy Award for his cinematography. Shot in winter, the film preserves the flavor of early black and white films, with sharp contrasts, and the use of dark, somber colors, when colors are used at all. Snow, ice, rain, and fog perpetuate the cold darkness of the scenes, and Hall's use of architectural framing is stunning, particularly his repeated use of windows. He keeps the scenes simple, often focusing on individual characters in contexts which reveal their emotional states. In one memorable scene, for example, light from a streetlight outside a window casts the shadow of rain on an interior wall, suggesting both tears and cleansing.

Newman is terrific as an aging mob boss, playing his part with just the right mix of frailty and cruelty (for which he was nominated for an Academy Award). Tyler Hoechlin, as 12-year-old Mike, Jr., reveals his fears and vulnerabilities at the same time that he shows his satisfaction as the center of his father's attention (winning Best Young Actor from the Broadcast Film Critics Association). Jude Law, made up to look like a true, wild-eyed psychopath, is terrifying. Hanks looks menacing and acts viciously until his concern for his son overtakes all other emotions in a moving, climactic scene, though it is difficult to accept him in the role of a hitman.

Period music adds style to the film, and original music by Thomas Newman (and the title song by John Williams), mostly piano and strings, preserves the period tone. Filled with the horror of violence and considerable suspense, this noir film gives a human face to mob violence in the thirties. Mary Whipple


Rating:
Summary: Gangster Tale Falls Short
Review: This film is an enigma to me. It has all the elements of a great film yet ultimately it has no resonance for me. Tom Hanks is excellent as the hitman on the run from his former employers. Paul Newman, in the twilight of a great career, is even better as the mob boss. The few scenes that Hanks and Newman share are pure cinematic dynamite. Tyler Hoechlin as Hanks' young son is a natural. Jude Law delivers another good character performance as the hired gun/free-lance photographer. In smaller roles Daniel Craig, Dylan Baker, and Stanley Tucci also do good work. The direction by Sam Mendes is crisp and the story moves pretty good. The art direction and the cinematography are breathtaking. I think ultimately why this film fails to achieve greatness is that at it's heart it is a cold one. Despite the efforts of the top-notch talent in front of the camera and behind it they cannot muster enough empathy for a story that involves heartless gangsters. These criticisms aside, the film is worth checking out for all the things that do work. This film is a disappointment, not a failure.

Rating:
Summary: Make 'em all like this Tom.
Review: This is not the film that it advertised itself to be. You do not get what you paid for; you'll leave with something much more beautiful than that. The recently deceased Conrad L. Hall, known for his breathtaking cinematography in the classic Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and the more recent American Beauty, has filmed the most beautifully shot movie of the year. Tom Hanks plays Michael Sullivan, a contract killer under the employment of John Rooney, played by old Butch himself, Paul Newman. This movie is not so much a gang warfare manhunt as it is an odd display of the father-son relationship. My, it does it well.