The Beat October 2002

By Chip Hickman

Road To Perdition
Starring Tom Hanks, Jude Law, Paul Newman
Director: Sam Mendes
Rating: 3.5 Ojingas (out of 5)

There are three reasons to see this movie:

1) Sam Mendes is for real. His first film, American Beauty, received a whack of accolades (including the Oscars in 1999 for best picture, director, actor, screenplay and cinematography). So he's got that going for him, which is nice.
But the praise can hurt you as much as it helps sometimes; how many shit Kostner movies have we endured over the last 10 years because of the Dances With Wolves' Oscar enigma? Anyway, Perdition is no Waterworld.

2) The performances are on fire. Tom Hanks, Paul Newman, Jude Law -- they are the acting equivalent of a Swanson's Hungry Man Chicken Dinner after a bowl of kindness: broken down to it°Øs individual parts (fatty chicken wing and leg breaded to death, butter-saturated peas and mashed potatoes, cherry sugar block) it sounds unappealing. But packed into plastic mold and microwaved they spell "magic."

The reason it works so well here is that all three heavyweights are cast completely against type: Hanks is cold and smoldering. Newman is indecisive and ethically bankrupt. Jude Law is ugly and not English. The result is actors who aren't going through the motions - they're diggin‘ in and performing. Awards will be won. Call Vegas and get the early line.

3) Conrad Hall. He's the cinematographer. Before you walk away thinking this is some artsy qualification that people use when they want to sound hip and knowledgeable about films, hear me out. I agree that some people who talk about great film in terms of cinematography are like people who talk about restaurants for their interior decoration, but there are exceptions. This is one of those exceptions.

Before The Godfather, all American and most European movies had lighting like airport runways. The Godfather was almost shelved after execs saw the dailies and saw what Gordon Willis (not Coppola) was doing - using darkness as a powerful theme. Can you imaging the opening scene of The Godfather being lit up like a press conference?

The same kind of genius is at work here. If only our eyes saw the world as vividly as he shows us this film. Note: Watch for the introduction of Jude Law's character on screen - easily the most powerful scene of the film for my money.

Put all that together with the fact that there's a kid as a co-star and you don't hate him (or yourself) for paying to watch him on screen and you end up with a good flick.

If you liked gangster movies like The Godfather and Miller's Crossing, then go see Road To Perdition. If you like movies with monkeys as the main character, please bludgeon yourself quietly to death.