Far from a Gangsta’s paradise. Review on The Road to Perdition Movie

What drew me to the cinema halls to watch ‘The Road to Perdition’? Tom Hanks, Paul Newman, Jude Law, The slick Trailer and the fact that it was directed by Sam Mendes who gave us the aesthetically brilliant but macabre ‘American Beauty’.

The film essentially is fashioned in the genre of gangster movies that began its tradition in the 1940’s with actors like James Cagney, Edward G.Robinson. The later years saw movies like ‘The Godfather’, Nitti The Enforcer, Bugsy, Hoodlum, The Cotton Club enforce the genre as a prominent one in the history of cinema.

‘Road to Perdition’ is an autobiographical account through the eyes of a 12 year old boy Michael Sullivan, Jr whose life faces a reversal in 6 weeks in the cold winter of 1931. He comes to a sudden realization that his upstanding, busy father Mike Sullivan (is the right hand hit man of his benefactor Jon Rooney (Paul Newman). One night he unknowingly witnesses his father accompany and assist Connor Rooney, John’s son in an impulsive shooting of a fellow associate. Connor is reprimanded by his father resulting in his diabolical designs to annihilate the whole Sullivan brood to save his neck. By some twist of fate Mike and his first-born Michael escape the attempt only to suffer the loss of a wife and mother, son and brother. It is an inevitable clash between worlds, that of middle class complacency and the bloodstained Irish Mafia. Driven to the brink of anger Michael sets out on a personal vendetta dragging along his bewildered 12-year-old son in his travails. Is there anything else to this story? Yeah an element of foreboding doom in the form of a twisted, maniacal, trail wolf assassin; Maguire ( Jude Law) tracking both father and son at the bidding of the elder Rooney and Frank Nitti himself.

I pretty much was expecting a story of depth and fast paced action-drama. But I received less than half of what I had expected. The story drags a bit in the send half of this 1 hour 58 minute drama and loses most of its intensity. What you end up doing is calculating the frequent dead body dropping count and wondering if all the events were going to lead up to some kind of significant realization in the end for the protagonist. The movie had the heart and the drive but lacked energy and profundity.

But there were other things that consoled me, that it wasn’t all that bad. The overall performance by the cast is par excellence. Tom Hanks, Paul Newman, Jude law, even the young boy who plays Michael Jr, Tyler Hoechlin. His transformation from a carefree lad to a much wiser, introspective pre-teen is quite well depicted. The cinematography is also something to reckon with. The camera not only captures the expressions with sensitivity but the techniques used actually hurl you into the mind of the characters. One shot I particularly like was the one at the end of the scene where John Rooney reprimands Connor for his impulsive behavior. The camera follows John and Sullivan as they leave the room blurring the figure of Connor whose mind is whirling only to focus clearly on Connor after they go. For that one instant you know exactly what his next move is going to be. There is one regret I did have and that was the underwritten character of the spooky Maguire. He was such an interesting person with shades of gray and a lot of promise. If only he had been evolved like Ricky Fitts, the plastic bag gazing, handy cameraman from ‘American Beauty’. Even the ending sorts of fizzles out on you especially after the events have you wondering what’s in store for us. Now ‘American beauty’ had one heck of an ending.

Well its only natural to expect better from the director who broke waves with his first movie. I learned one thing though, never to expect the second movie to top the first’s success. We viewers have been burnt pretty often. It’s better to just go and watch the movie with a passive attitude.