Road to Perdition is a film that I viewed with a certain set of expectations. You have a main cast comprised of four wonderful, well-known and well-respected actors: Tom Hanks, Daniel Craig, Jude Law, and Paul Newman (in his last major role; after this film he merely made a few appearances on television and played the voice of Doc Hudson in Cars). Jennifer Jason Leigh, Dylan Baker, and Stanley Tucci maintain minor supporting roles, while the relatively unknown Tyler Hoechlin stars as the elder of Tom Hanks’ two sons. You have Sam Mendes directing his second major film – still hot off the resounding success that was American Beauty – and returning with him is cinematographer Conrad L. Hall (who won the only Oscar for this film - Best Cinematography, of course - though it was posthumous as he passed away eleven weeks prior to the event).
Set around 1931, the film is about a man named Mike Sullivan (Hanks) who works for John Rooney (Newman) as an enforcer in the Rock Island branch of the Chicago mob. After Sullivan’s elder son (Hoechlin) witnesses a killing that he is a part of, a chain of events initiated by Rooney’s malicious son, Connor (Craig), leads to him being on the run – predominately from the seemingly psychotic hit man Harlen Maguire (Law) – in an effort to both save his son and seek revenge on the men who have taken so much away from him. With all of the aforementioned elements in play combined with this premise, I expected to thoroughly enjoy this film, and I was not let down in the slightest. Hall’s cinematography is incessantly beautiful throughout the film, as one would expect. One shot in particular I find notable is near the end of the film, when Sullivan is returning to his son after leaving him in a hotel room. It is set up to so that the viewer can simultaneously see Sullivan’s son sitting on a bed in the hotel room and Sullivan as he walks down the hall leading to the room – both of which take up a fairly equal half of the frame. The suspense seems to build with every step Sullivan takes in anticipation of something and/or someone to hinder the reunion with his son.
The script is wonderfully written, so as characters do not speak too often (in fact, much of the story information comes from scenes where there is little-to-no dialogue whatsoever), but when they do it is at the same time clever and wholly believable. Even Ciarán Hinds – whom you may recognize from Munich, his bit role in There Will Be Blood or, perhaps more notably, the HBO series Rome (in which he played Julius Caesar) – delivers a fantastic and emotionally-charged speech in one of the opening scenes. All around, the rest of the performances live up to what one would expect from Oscar-winning talent – especially Paul Newman (who received a nomination for Best Supporting Actor). Throughout the film, I found myself sympathizing not only with Sullivan, but with Rooney as well – who is torn between his love for Sullivan (whom he views as a son) and his actual son, Connor. He wants as few people to suffer as humanly possible, but realizes – as the viewer does – that the fates of all the characters are unalterable and will end ultimately in tragedy. As he tells Sullivan in a gripping scene near the end of the film: "This is the life we chose, the life we lead. And there is only one guarantee: none of us will see heaven."
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