Review of Road to Perdition
Year: 2002 Reviewer: Chris Docker
Wow! The Big New Gangster Movie! Except it does not exactly live up to the hype. It even makes me wonder if director Sam Mendes was more than a bit lucky in pulling off American Beauty, a film which was not only captivating and thrilling to watch, but whose greatness relied heavily on the considerable consensual reality of critics and audiences that read a lot into the movie that wasn't actually stated. Fine - I got the point with AB; finding a point worth bothering about in Road to Perdition on the other hand, is like trying to find flavour in a limp MacDonalds burger that has somehow been served up at the Ritz.
Cinematography is gorgeous - the scenes are beautifully shot - they all look like a definitive breed of gangster movie and any of them would make wonderful posters to grace the wall of the local Odeon; sadly, the motion picture itself here is rather less than the sum of its parts. The characterisation is one-dimensional and Hanks (wooden throughout) very mis-cast. An interminable number of scenes end with long drawn-out pregnant pauses (with or without a nice John Williams musical slow-fade) in which the viewer might be invited to add some Deep Meaning. But does the film warrant such effort? Not in this viewer's opinion. The actions of the main characters often seem at odds with the personalities portrayed (would they really have done that?). The voice overs are trite and predictable. The moral dilemmas are reduced to absurd simplicity and repeated over and over again as if the audience might have nodded off (an understandable temptation.)
The story follows reluctant henchman Tom Hanks doing his best to be an upright hitman out of gratitude to the big boss (Paul Newman) who has given him the means to provide for his family by following a life of crime. His young son finds out what he does for a living and Hanks tries to protect him from growing up as a gangster.
It really is incredibly slow, but in an `isn't this artistic?' self-indulgent way. I am reminded of the career of that once amazing actor, Meryl Streep - she turned in great performances until she seemed to feel she had ‘clocked' what made an ‘award-winning performance.' From then on in many of her films, there would be little pauses to allow the viewer a moment to admire the brilliance of how she had just delivered those wonderful lines - and lead one critic to coin the phrase `doing a Meryl Streep'. In Road to Perdition, Mendes has a self-satisfied approach to directing that keeps inviting viewers to admire the Sam Mendes Moments. Oscars might be there for cinematography, but as a directorial second feature this has the trappings rather than the substance of greatness.
Some light relief is provided by a sickly photographer character played by Jude Law, who specialises in taking photographs of the dead - or recently dead - and doesn't mind helping people on their way for a monetary consideration and the chance of a good, saleable photo. His part is based on a real 1930's photographer, some of whose pictures appear in the film. The character has no moral dilemmas: he is just plain nasty!
Road to Perdition follows a middle road, very slowly, and contains small amount of blood-curdling gore but not enough to keep real gorehounds satisfied - just enough to upset those who don't like that kind of thing I expect. But the movie is aimed at a more discerning market and fails to deliver. Even reading meaning into the title (perdition = utter loss) satisfies only in a banal sort of way. It would be true to say that although the film is paved with good intentions it suggests the director has failed to capitalise on the artistic success of his earlier American Beauty and has taken the road to box office mediocrity and bankability.
Rating: 5/10
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