Road To Perdition

"There is only one guarantee. None of us will see Heaven."
This suspense-filled story of hitman Michael Sullivan, directed by Sam Mendes, has as much style and cinematic brilliance as his American Beauty, though it is much darker. Sullivan (Tom Hanks), the adoptive son of John Rooney (Paul Newman), is a cold-blooded killer working for his crime boss "father" in the winter of 1931, when his own twelve-year-old son, Mike Jr., inadvertently witnesses a "hit" in which his father participates.

Subsequently, the Sullivans, father and son, take off for Chicago to meet with Frank Nitti (Stanley Tucci), underworld lieutenant to Al Capone. Mike Sullivan, Sr. is also hoping to get to Perdition, an appropriately named Midwestern town, so he can leave is son with his sister-in-law. Sadistic hitman Harlan Maguire (Jude Law), who enjoys photographing the death throes of his victims, is soon on the Sullivans' trail to through the midwest.

Conrad L. Hall, to whom the film is dedicated, uses photography to its fullest advantage winning...

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...

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,...

Click to Editorial Reviews