Perdition: Road to Dullsville

July 15: I thought The Road to Perdition was just okay. I didn't seem very deep; like the characters weren't very well drawn or even went through any changes.

Oh, yeah, this "review" contains "spoilers" which means don't read this if you haven't seen the movie, because I may be giving away important plot details.

Note: *Spoilers* ahead.

Anyway, I mean the kid's like, "some say my paw was an evil man, and some say there was some good in him and I say he was just my paw." Well, the script may have had the kid say that in his voice-over, but Hanks was kind of like the mobster with the heart of gold.

We've seen it before. He only killed people in the mob. It wasn't like he had to choose, geez should I save my son? The more I think about it, the more I didn't care for the film. No surprises. More and more often these days I think of that Radiohead song "No Surprises" when I'm sitting through another movie.

You saw the preview and you knew who the characters were from that and then when you saw the whole two hours, it didn't seem to expand on that. So as a simple action tale it was too slow, and as a character driven drama it was too empty and routine. We've seen all the period gangster stuff before, and anything interesting in Perdition had already been done much better in the 1990 masterpiece, Miller's Crossing.

I didn't think it was bad, I thought Hanks and Jude Law were good. I love Jennifer Jason Leigh, but she hardly had any lines and then they killed her. Stanley Tucci was good as Frank Nitti.

Newman was fine, but this was a pretty easy role for him; he'd done it before. All he really did was get out of bed in the morning, kiss Joanne goodbye and go to work where he said the lines he had memorized. I don't fault Newman, just the callow script.

I thought Tyler Hoechlin was fine as the young Michael Sullivan Jr, but nothing special. Also, I think the voice over should have been done by an older actor; as this character grown up. Because he's talking from the future. But that's a technical flaw.

By the way, at the end, I suppose since he went back to live with the couple on the farm (what a surprise) that that meant that his aunt had been killed by Jude Law at her sweet house on the beach. There seems to have been some question.

It was also a disappointment as the follow up film from director Sam Mendes, who directed a really fresh and original film (unlike Perdition), American Beauty (1999).

What is also totally lame -- at least, as of this writing -- the user review headlining the imdb entry of Road to Perdition says "arguably the best gangster movie ever made." That is laughable. The only thing ARGUABLE, is whether Paul Newman will make any more films.

Of course there's dozens of better gangster films. And there's no ARGUING about this film vs., say, The Godfather, or Le Samourai. Be careful using the old "arguably the best..." Some people seem to think that gives them carte blanche to make any outrageous statement they want. Road to Perdition is arguably better than Newman's last two films. Road to Perdition is arguably better than Hanks' last two films.

Here's a short list of better gangster films:

The Godfather I, II -- and even Godfather III, Pulp Fiction, Miller's Crossing, The Hit, The Limey, Bonnie and Clyde, Jackie Brown, The Usual Suspects, The Untouchables, Goodfellas, White Heat, Get Carter (1971), Sexy Beast, The Roaring Twenties, Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, A bout de souffle/Breathless, All Through the Night, Another Day In Paradise, The Asphalt Jungle, The Big Heat, Bob le flambeur, The Friends of Eddie Coyle, The Getaway (1972), Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, The Glass Key (1942), Heat, The Killing, Out of the Past, The Killers (1963), The French Connection, The Killers (1946), Killing Zoe, La Femme Nikita, The Lineup (1958), Performance (1970), Point Blank, The Racket (1951), Rififi, Robin and the Seven Hoods, Le Samourai, The Sting, Things Change, This Gun for Hire, The Way of the Gun...

Disagree with this review? Then email me at tedstrong@tedstrong.com!