Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Only Michael Jr. has a chance to get into Heaven
Sam Mendes' "The Road to Perdition" is a film about family: extended, brother against brother, father and sons and ultimately father against sons. It's about the world of Men in much the same tradition as "East of Eden," which it thematically resembles. Mendes tackles big ideas here: the sanctity of the family, a father's love of family, a father's right to protect his family and a natural versus an adopted son's place in a family (the right of succession). But Mendes uses the small details of life to develop these themes so that his lofty ideas have a pervasive as well as persuasive effect on the viewer.
Michael Sullivan (Tom Hanks) is a family man (2 sons, Michael Jr. and Peter) who works for John Rooney (Paul Newman) as a bodyguard and hit man. John has a son, Connor (David Craig)who is intensely jealous of his father's relationship with Michael. It is obvious that John prefers Michael: strong, obedient, intelligent, over his natural son, Connor: weak, smarmy, conniving, underhanded, hotheaded.
One evening, Michael Jr., eager and curious to find out what exactly his father does for a living, hides in his father's car while Michael Sr. goes out on a "business call" with Connor to strong arm an associate that ends with Connor recklessly killing the associate with Michael Jr. witnessing the entire event.
This proves to be the turning point in the film and the event that sets the remainder of the film in motion: can Michael Jr. be trusted to keep his mouth shut? Connor has some definite ideas about this.
One of the most impressive set pieces of the film is a showdown between Michael and John Rooney and his henchman on a public street at night in the pouring rain, shot with absolutely no sound nor blood in sight. It is as effective in it's way as the last, very bloody scene in "Bonnie and Clyde."
Conrad Hall has shot the film in a dark, grayish, almost colorless palette very similar to
"The Yards," also coincidentally a film about a family involved in crime. The criminal life for Hall and Mendes then is not the chiaroscuro life that Coppola envisions it in his Godfather trilogy, but one of black and gray signifying a life of hiding, back alleys and drudgery devoid of color, enjoyment and living. The music is also extremely effective and evocative especially since Mendes has shot large portions of the film without dialogue.
The acting is top drawer with Tyler Hoechlin as Michael Jr. almost stealing the picture away from the always effective Tom Hanks, Jude Law and Paul Newman.
Sam Mendes has fashioned a film of the utmost purity and beauty: a tone poem to the family and to the father-son relationship in particular.
"The Road to Perdition" is a film that resonates with regret and sadness but more importantly an over-riding feeling that, as gangsters "getting into heaven"as John Rooney states... is not a possibility.
Rating: - Emotionally-Charged Mafia Movie Showcases Hanks
If you look the word "perdition" up in the dictionary you will see that it means loss of the soul or eternal damnation. In this movie, it is also the name of a small Illinois town. Or is it both?Michael Sullivan, Jr. opens the movie by telling the audience that some people said his dad was a decent person and some said there was no good in him at all. He then says he spent six weeks with him in the summer of 1931 and this is their story. Thus begins a dark, often touching, often disturbing movie about the Irish Mafia in depression-era Chicago. Tom Hanks is outstanding as Michael Sullivan, the father, a hit man for mob boss John Rooney, played by Paul Newman. A very different role for Hanks, but one he imbues with his talent so well this "good guy" is extremely believable as the "bad guy" for a change. All is going well until his son secretly goes along on a mission one night and witnesses Sullivan making a hit. And now the kid's life is in danger. His father appeals to the mob boss to spare him and is assured such will be the case. But when Michael Sullivan arrives home one night, a double murder assures him his life and his son's are marked. So begins their six-week journey to find safety at his sister's home in Perdition. The cinematography is outstanding in this darkly photographed movie where there is more rain than we've had since "Angela's Ashes." The costuming, the casting, the story are all flawless but it is Hanks, playing the cold-hearted killer who is also a loving father, who lifts this above the rest of the summer movie fare. You won't get the action or dazzling glamour of "The Godfather" but you will get a good film noir movie that showcases Hanks, gives outstanding scenes to Newman, and tells a story that keeps you riveted to the screen.
Rating: - No warm and fuzzy Tom Hanks here
ROAD TO PERDITION is a major departure for Tom Hanks. He kills people. And don't expect to see Meg Ryan as a cutely tousled co-star. Besides, it rains so much in this film that it would've made her look like a wet doggie.It's 1931, and Hanks plays Michael Sullivan, an enforcer working for crime family head John Rooney (Paul Newman). Though Rooney has an adult son, Connor (Daniel Craig), he regards Michael with the affection reserved for the son he wishes he'd had. Sullivan himself has a wife and two boys. In the film's first half-hour, Connor botches a job assigned to him and Michael by the elder Rooney. In the aftermath of the debacle, Connor kills Michael's wife and his youngest (and favorite) son for reasons too complicated to explain here. For the remainder of the film, Sullivan goes on the lam with Michael, Jr. (Tyler Hoechlin) seeking revenge against Connor while evading a hit man named Maguire (Jude Law) reluctantly hired by John Rooney to pre-empt the reprisal slaying of his own badly behaved offspring. Those who are turned off by ROAD TO PERDITION because of the bloody deeds performed by Hollywood Good Fella Hanks, akin to watching Jimmy Stewart in the role of someone who kicks puppies, are perhaps missing the point. This is a powerful tale of the dynamic that exists between fathers and sons: John and Connor, Michael and Michael, Jr., and John and Michael. This is a Guy Story to be sure. Indeed, in the entire film there's no female lead worth mentioning and very little softness. Much of the magnificent cinematography is done in the dark, brooding atmospheres that one could expect in the Male's Cave. That's not to say that there's no humor. There's a sequence of scenes depicting the young Sullivan's mastering of driving skills that, in the context of the storyline, is positively priceless. Early on, Newman, the mega-star of yesterday, and Hanks, the mega-star of today, play a piano duet (for real). But the sentimental favorite of ROAD TO PERDITION has to be the former, and I foresee a nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Newman's blue eyes continue to shine out of a face that age (and perhaps cosmetic surgery) has only made more striking. Moreover, Paul's Rooney expresses more raw emotion in his relationship with his son than Tom's Sullivan can manage in his. Perhaps this was an intentional part of the script, or perhaps it's a reflection of the accomplished old pro that Newman is and Hanks has yet to be. And Law is especially good as the sinister and creepy Maguire whose hits provide fodder for his day job. I liked this film a lot because it focuses on the nature of the father/son relationship, something which Tinseltown usually ignores. This is likely to be one of the better films of 2002.
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