It’s been out a while, but we finally saw Road to Perdition the other night. In spite of my almost irrational loathing of Tom Hanks, I really wanted to see this one.
So, is it ‘The greatest gangster film since The Godfather‘? Nah. Not even close. It is very good, though. The direction, courtesy of Mr. Kate Winslett, is constantly aspiring to interesting things, and sometimes even succeeds. The style outweighs the content on a few occasions (a sure sign that nothing very interesting is happening), but thankfully, the effect is not overwhelming.
Hanks is solid as Michael Sullivan, but let’s not go overboard. The whole point of the character is that he shows little to no emotion for much of his screen time, so all you need is someone who can look mean and moody. I suppose Hanks being mean and moody is different for him, though. Paul Newman is also good, but again, the performance is a little overrated… after all, he doesn’t have to do that much. He also seems very gaunt and frail at times, which, to me, is slightly disheartening. I know he’s getting on a bit, but when compared to the strong, dominating presence that made him famous, this performance is depressingly weak.
In my moderately humble opinion, the best performance of the film comes in the small role of real-life gangster and Capone sidekick, Frank Nitti, played by the hugely underrated Stanley Tucci. You might remember him as the villainous Richard Cross in Steven Bochco’s ill-fated Murder One series a few years ago. Tucci is a great talent, but relegated here to a few minutes of screen time, in which he effortlessly out-acts the rest of the cast. I’d have liked a lot more of him.
All in all, a very strong film, which doesn’t quite live up to its ambitious hype.