Road to Perdition

2002's ROAD TO PERDITION was one of my Corona Virus Pandemic of 2020 re-watches.  It was only my second viewing, to my recollection.  What I remembered was a somber, beautifully shot mob drama with Tom Hanks and Paul Newman.  Accurate.  What I did not remember was a film that was very "Hollywood", with a healthy dose of sentiment, the dreaded framing device, and occasionally manipulative scoring.  Occasionally: I mostly liked Thomas Newman's music, though less of it would've made a film so intent on being "dark" resonate even more.

A young man opens and closes the tale with his narration.  His name is Michael Sullivan Jr. (Tyler Hoechlin), elder son of Michael Sr. (Hanks) a hit man for the Irish mafia in Illinois.  He speaks about the six weeks on the road with his stoic dad, necessitated by the murder of his mother and other brother by Sr.'s associate.  Junior is the catalyst of all this, as he was discovered as a stowaway in Sr.'s car one night during a hit. Sr.'s psychotic associate of aforemention is Connor (Daniel Craig), who perhaps isn't so convinced that Jr., who saw the hit, can keep a secret.  Connor is the son of mob boss John Rooney (Paul Newman), but the old cuss treats Michael Sr. more as one of his own.  Note that piano scene.

Beware a guy named Harlen Maguire (Jude Law), a crime scene photographer who is also a gun for hire, with the Sullivans in his sights.  Who hired him?

ROAD TO PERDITION, adapted by David Self from a graphic novel, is nominally about retribution, but its themes of paternalism are almost immediately recognizable.  As you mull over the picture later you see some interesting small moments, as when Connor sneers at Jr's younger sibling Peter, really connect with the overall themes. The story is of the "sins of the father" variety, but with more hope.  Jr.'s trajectory is really the heart of it all, and I found it quite effective.  But Sam Mendes, for all his skillful and beautiful direction, somehow doesn't give the film the emotional weight it should've had.  I also blame the somewhat thin characterizations, though no one's performances (and this is a fine cast) can be faulted.  Everyone is just right, I just wish we had more to work with.  More dialogue among these folks.  It's heavy drama, but it feels unfinished.  Pieces missing.  When the inevitable befalls, I wasn't completely involved.

But this is a film that conveys so much in its visuals, and Conrad Hall, in his second collaboration with Mendes and whose last film this was, again does astonishing work.  The final confrontation between Hanks and Newman (and Newman's men) is one of the most stunning series of shots I've seen in a movie.  The look and feel of Depression era America through Hall's lens throughout all of ROAD TO PERDITION is perfectly evoked.