Road to Perdition – Better Hit the Gas

I feel like this film has been overshadowed by others like it. There are a ton of Tom Hanks films, a ton of Sam Mendes films, and a ton of gangster films that get a lot more credit than this one.

I was very excited to show this one to my wife. I’ll cede the review to her for now.

Pre-viewing:

I think I’ve heard of this movie in the sense that I’ve heard the title. I have no idea what to expect from this movie and don’t even know the genre. So I asked Nick what the genre is and he said “gangster”.

Post-viewing:

I really enjoyed this movie. I will very likely never have the desire to watch it again, but it was a very good movie. The story was well-written, albeit predictable. The acting was phenomenal and some of the shots were truly masterful – all things I am learning to appreciate more, being married to a film buff. 

At one point I did point out that there was a slight similarity to a Liam Neeson film* that my husband and I had recently-ish watched. (We absolutely love Liam Neeson action films) But there is definitely no comparison… Road to Perdition was lightyears better, but I find equal enjoyment from both. For very different reasons. 

Something that I’m really enjoying about this ‘Wife Wednesday’ is that I’m getting exposed to movies I wouldn’t ordinarily watch. I watch movies all the time with Nick that I wouldn’t necessarily gravitate toward on my own, but those are almost always movies that neither of us have watched. 

Nick’s thoughts:

I throughly enjoyed this. I’d seen it once before, about seven years ago during my freshman year of college. I watched it in a crowded classroom of students and didn’t feel like I was able to give the film the attention it deserved. Today, I was able to fix that.

I think this is one of Tom Hanks’ better performances. He gets to play a subjectively evil man, a rarity in his career of mostly heroes and good men. His only redeeming quality is his love for his son, who he will do anything to protect from the men he previously saw as family before their betrayal.

This film is typically praised for its cinematography. The frame was always presented with precision and care. The cinematographer, Conrad Hall, won an Oscar for his work on the film, awarded posthumously (his third total Oscar win).

At times, tonally the film takes a few odd swings. After over an hour of ultra-seriousness, Tom Hanks teaches his son how to drive. The tone of these scenes is downright comical, feeling almost out of a Chaplin-era silent film. While it made me laugh, it was bizarre and didn’t fit at all with the rest of the film, which returns to its original tone after this sequence.

Overall, I think this is a great film and it deserves its praise. I am happy to have introduced it to my wife.

Be sure to join us next week as Tori watches another classic film for the first time!

*The Liam Neeson film Tori referenced was Run All Night (2015)