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Road to Perdition
(Reviewed July 15, 2002)
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Stylishly directed and beautifully shot but a little frustrating, mainly due to the miscasting of Tom Hanks as a hitman in the Al Capone era. Hanks is never completely convincing as a cold and distant father who goes on a methodical bank-robbing and revenge spree with his teenage son. I also had trouble with a few plot elements that can't be specified without blowing important parts of the plot. (Let's just say that one of them involves the fact that I did not believe for a second that the guy who runs a den of iniquity would do what he does when Hanks shows up--and the resolution of that particular scene is even more preposterous.) And I really, really disliked the ending of the movie, which featured not one but two huge cop-out cliches.
Still, Paul Newman is excellent as a grandfatherly mob boss, and Stanley Tucci has an interestingly unusual take on Capone henchman Frank Nitti. Photographer/hitman Jude Law seems to have dropped in from another movie (a creepy German expressionist horror flick, maybe), but does give the movie some juice. The main thing I enjoyed about the movie is its minimalism; there's not a whole lot of dialog, and only one scene (Hanks teaching his teenage son to drive) qualifies as a corny "crowd pleaser." The rest of the movie unfolds at a measured pace that felt refreshingly "adult." (Speaking of which: I have no idea why this movie is rated "R." If I recall correctly, only a single word--"pussy"--would keep this movie from being shown on network TV with no other cuts whatsoever. Strange.)
Even with its flaws, the movie merits seeing for some of the directing touches by "American Beauty" director Sam Mendes. A silent execution scene on a rainy Chicago street, for example, is one that will stay with audiences forever; it's a classic. And Hanks himself is not terrible, it's just that you find yourself wishing somebody else had played his part. (How's that for faint praise?)
Back Row Grade: C
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