Road to Perdition

Rating : 7/10
Running Time : 117 Minutes
Release Date : July ‘02
Director : Sam Mendes ; Writers : Max Allan Collins & Richard Piers Rayner (graphic novel)
Starring : Tom Hanks, Paul Newman, Daniel Craig, Jude Law, Tyler Hoechlin

Tom Hanks’ masterful performance and the overall dark, gloomy setting of the American gangster era, light up the screen and make for riveting viewing in this otherwise predictable movie.

Tom owes everything he has to Paul Newman, who picked him off the streets and treats him like his son. In return, he gets Tom’s unflinching loyalty and one of the best enforcers in the business. Paul’s real son, a weak, effeminate Daniel Craig, is a bit hot headed and during a simple business meeting ends up shooting a loyal business partner. Trouble erupts when he realises that Tom Hanks elder son has witnessed the entire episode. Soon Tom and his elder son are fleeing the bleak, wintry countryside to avoid a contract killer and pondering what to do next.

Tom Hanks is brilliant as a quiet, undemonstrative man who gets the job done. They say ‘still waters run deep’, though, and we see how this man is determined to follow things to their logical end without flinching. A tiny furrow on his forehead is about all the emotion we see as he copes with the loss of the life he had built over the years. I also loved the way the father-son relationship is shown, it is so devoid of physical contact or open displays of affection, so undemonstrative vs the Indian / Eastern / Latino way of raising kids. A couple of conversations also stand out, especially the one between the son and father while they’re on the run.

Despite the lack of much dialogue or special effects / stunts, the film has a very nice pace and an almost hypnotic effect, keeping you glued to the screen, as Sam Mendes follows up American Beauty with another masterpiece. We also see how unreasonable parents get when it comes to their offspring and in essence that’s what the movie is about. After all, they also say ‘Blood is thicker than Water’…