Before becoming known as the director of two films of the Bond franchise, Sam Mendes once directed a film adapted from a graphic novel called Road To Perdition.
The film is set during the Depression and revolves around Michael Sullivan (Tom Hanks), a father who is also a gangster. He works for mob boss John Rooney (Paul Newman) who is rather like an adoptive father. When one of his sons, Michael Jnr (Tyler Hoechlin) sees what his father does for a living, he and Michael Snr must go on the road since many people will now be coming after them.
I found the plot to be a very intriguing one with interesting ideas and ambitions, and yes there are other films that depict children at the centre of dangerous and deadly situations, but most of the time they are unrealistic and outlandish situations. The events in the movie could actually happen or have happened, since we live in a world that has the kind of people this film features.
The performances in this film are quite well done particularity Hanks and Newman. What makes their performances so interesting and enjoyable is that you don't just see them as gangsters and how they handle their jobs, they also both have families and you see the differences in personality between their professional and personal lives. Hoechlin does a moderately good job with his performance; he and Hanks have some good chemistry in moments when nothing else is happening. And he handles the events of the film like anyone around the age of his character would- he gets frightened, he gets angry, but does not lose sight of the fact that he is only a child and if he wants any hope of making it out alive he will need his father's help. And his father really is a murderer whether he likes it or not.
The screenplay was written by David Self. In his efforts to translate this from page to screen, the end result gave me mixed feelings. On paper this could very easily feel like any kind of film in its genre, and in some regards that's what it is. It's full of gangster tropes, and if you think of one, the chances are that it's in there. The originality lies in the film's main story and themes.
The film is dedicated to the memory of the film's cinematographer, Conrad L Hall. He did very well with most of the cinematography, especially with the lighting that was used for the atmosphere in scenes that take place at night. It suits the change in tone from a period drama about family, to a drama about survival and the relationships between fathers and their sons.
The score was composed by a man who would later join Mendes on his Bond work, Thomas Newman. His score is one where, when a big moment comes or we are building up to something critical, the right kind of dramatic music is playing for the scene. If nothing needs to be said or heard the film can still succeed with total silence.
But like all films it does have weak points. A certain character is underused and could have been an ongoing presence in the movie. John Rooney's other son Connor (Daniel Craig) seems to feel that his adopted brother is bonding well with his father as if he is stealing him away from him. This could have been used more and would have added meaningful back story. However, although Connor is responsible for setting the movie's main events in motion, he is just pushed aside until it is time for the movie to come to a conclusion.
The movie also suffers from an insanely huge number of characters who are in it for no more than a few minutes and are then never seen again or developed. They appear to be there for no better reason than to show how vast the mafia organisation is.
In conclusion I found Road to Perdition to be quite an interesting viewing experience, it's certainly more of a drama than it is a gangster film. But it has good performances and an interesting premise.
With all that I'm going to give Road to Perdition a
B-
