Reviewed 12 Sep 2002       If you start with a tired old story, and you put the best actors in the business into it, you get a tired old story.    No one could have done a better job than Paul Newman (as Rooney) or Tom Hanks (as Michael Sullivan), but there was just no way to make a silk purse out of the sow's ear that was ROAD TO PERDITION.   Having said that though, the new, fat Tom Hanks would have been more convincing as a cold blooded killer if he looked a little less like a sickly and bloated basset hound.    I would recommend he get himself CAST AWAY again for a few months before he resumes any further attempts to entertain us.
       Paraded before us is the usual Hollywood version of the Mafia lifestyle; this 'honor among thieves' garbage, mixed with the gangster's total immunity from the law - they can run through the streets gunning people down and robbing banks, all the while the police force doesn't even take the slightest interest in what's going on.   Here we even have a policeman gunned down, and its as though the baddie accidentally backed over someone's mail box - its never mentioned again.    The Mafiosi are never even pursued, let alone arrested for their crimes -- and we are to suspend disbelief, we are expected to accept without question that this is a part of the American National Heritage.
       ROAD TO PERDITION is a simple story that says, "Son, don't grow up to be bad like me."    Storytelling was modest, with a few lapses in the flow, -to the point of moviegoers twitching restlessly in thier seats.    The movie added nothing to the genre of 'Mafia actioners'.   The movie's only plus was an excellent musical score.
        Enduring Line Or Phrase:   "Sons are put on this earth to trouble their fathers."

Reviewed by Narada for Bangkok Eyes - 12 Sep 2002 © 2002, Bangkok Eyes / bangkokeyes.com

BACK to MOVIE REWIEWS