Road to Perdition (2002, Sam Mendes)

I've heard about it for years, but it was never on TV, and I finally got it from the library. Amid the pile of rentals I'd gotten, the tommy gun that Hanks is carrying on the cover intrigued me more than the others because I generally enjoy mobster flicks. However, after reading the back of the DVD, the last thing I expected was a mob film. It sounded like a drama of some sort with a core relationship between a father and son. I thought Paul Newman was the father, and Tom Hanks was the son, who later had a son of his own. Boy, was I wrong.

The plot boils down to simplicity, but the artful presentation elevates it. Sam Mendes, I presume, was responsible for this elegance. Before long I realized that I was privy to the song and dance that cloaked the bloodstained secrecy of the mob world. One boy's mistake later, and the charade started crumbling apart.

What was left was a revenge story built on family and consequence. I liked how the movie was told by looking into Sullivan's eyes during a chilling car ride, using few words to move the story along in favor of action and tension. As the boy narrator sees it, it could be seen as bonding time between father and son in the face of danger, contrition and ire. There is an enviable moment when the son sticks his head out of the car window as his hair blows in the wind. He is enjoying time with his father that he had never gotten before, even whilst they are on traveling down a path of vengeance. His father isn't a hero, but they both love and need the same things. When those comforts are taken away, the father has his guilt and the boy has a lesson to learn.

Before watching this film, I'd never seen a silent shootout in a rainstorm. The musical score is delicate, and the usage of misdirection (although I have seen it before in Carlito's Way) was done with the same muted brilliance. By its wholesome themes and morals, Road to Perdition was a sweet surprise.