ROAD TO PERDITION (Sam Mendes, 2002)

Reviewed: July 12, 2002

The first act of Road to Perdition -- roughly the opening twenty-five minutes -- worried me. Perdition begins with a lame voice-over and an unsubtle image, then plods delicately toward Boredom. We meet characters we've already seen in other films and a perfunctory "inciting incident" occurs. But then act two begins and Road to Perdition shifts into a beautiful piece of work -- stunningly photographed by Oscar-winning cinematographer Conrad L. Hall and a worthy follow-up to Sam Mendes's excellent, though generally overrated, American Beauty.

We've all seen the basic story in Road to Perdition countless times before, but I didn't care because of the images, the truthful simplicity, and the acting (Perdition has Hanks, a phenomenal actor, at his meanest and most restrained; there are also marvelous supporting turns from Jude Law, Paul Newman, Dylan Baker, Daniel Craig and Stanley Tucci, although Jennifer Jason Leigh is wasted). And I didn't care because in Road to Perdition, a familiar story is filtered through a fresh, poignant father/son prism.

Road to Perdition's weaknesses are found in a few lazy plot contrivances and dreaded bookends that patronize the audience (as bookends always do). Plus, the actor who plays the key role of Hanks's son is pretty bad and Mendes is occasionally too reliant on Thomas Newman's (albeit mostly superb) score. But these are small prices to pay for a bleak, sparse film that could even conjure magic with the sound off.

Some critics have accused Road to Perdition of being pretentious and suffocating. This is because every shot is ostentatious. But what they are missing is how appropriately evocative that showiness is. Road to Perdition is based on a graphic novel and the film successfully, crucially acknowledges these roots. More than anything else, Road to Perdition is about establishing a mood -- a vibe of time and place -- and conveying what a journey to hell might feel like. The characters and their relationships could have been more vividly drawn, but that's almost besides the point -- Road to Perdition transports us to another world as only the most effective movies can.

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