"Road to Perdition" garners respect and admiration, but falls short in arousing emotions. The acting is excellent, the directing is great, the cinematography is breathtaking, but ultimately something is missing. It's hard to really care deeply about any of the characters in the movie, excepting Michael Sullivan Jr., who was played admirably well by newcomer Tyler Hoechlin.
Maybe the subdued feelings the movie generates stem from the seemingly preordained fate of the characters, maybe from the Depression-era setting, maybe from the capability of murderous characters to generate sympathy, but mostly they seem to be caused by a lack of character development. The characters stand by their code of honor, but no character ever seems to have a moment of questioning that code, nevermind actually going against it.
"Road's" plot is adequate, but because these characters are incapable of change, so too the plot is incapable of any exciting twists or turns, and because of this the outcome becomes apparent about 30 minutes into the film.
The story is set in the greater Chicago area during the early 1930's Depression era. Michael Sullivan (Tom Hanks) is a hitman who works for John Rooney (Paul Newman), a local mob boss who was kind enough to take in Michael when he was abandoned as a child. John treats Michael like his own son, providing Michael and his family with a nice house and a comfortable lifestyle, so long as Michael whacks a few people when called upon. Despite the heavy price for his comfort, Michael sincerely loves his surrogate father, and Rooney likewise adores Michael - so much so that John's biological son, Connor Rooney (Daniel Craig), can't help but seethe with jealousy at the preferential treatment Michael receives from his father. It is clear Connor wants Michael out of his family, and he finally gets the chance to make it happen one night when Michael Jr. sneaks a ride in his father's car to finally see what his father does for "work."
While peeping into a hole in an abandoned factory, Michael Jr. witnesses Connor perpetrate a vicious and unordered hit. Michael and Connor spot Michael Jr. running away, but Michael assures Connor that his son will not tell anyone about the crime. However, Connor firmly seizes on the chance to run them out of his father's life.
While Michael is out on a job, Connor slips into the Sullivan household and savagely murders Michael's wife and youngest son, Peter. Once Michael comes home and witnesses the bloody scene, his fate becomes sealed. He is going to kill Connor Rooney no matter what it takes.
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Despite loving Michael more than his own son, John Rooney must honor the father/son bond with the conniving and ungrateful Connor, and so he hires a specialist, Harlen Mcguire (Jude Law), to kill Michael Sullivan, sparing the boy.
One of the best scenes in the movie is the meeting between Michael and Mcguire at a nearly empty roadside diner in the middle of nowhere. After Michael escapes with his son, more of these thrilling scenes are expected to follow, but unfortunately Mcguire is barely in the movie. Law is fantastic as the creepy, twisted hitman, but his screen time is almost nonexistent, and the film misses out on what could have been some great interplay between Michael and Mcguire.
While "Road's" murder scenes are omewhat pretentiously filmed, that will be a plus if you happen to be a fan of stylized murder.
In addition to the elegant camerawork, Hanks is solid and Newman does wonders with his expressions of a tortured character laden with conflicting emotions and loyalties. However, the script never allows any of them to explore the possibility of change. Once the battle lines are drawn, there's no way any of them can go back or change their course of action. Because of this, despite the great performances, I couldn't help but feel that the characters were lacking some humanity.
"Road" is a fantastic movie that will surely be up for all sorts of Academy Awards, but it fails to become a true gangster film epic because no characters but Michael Jr has even a glimmer of hope for some redemption. And because all the characters are static and resigned to their fate in hell, so too are the viewers resigned to the inevitable outcome of this film long before it occurs.
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