Road to Perdition [MA]

12 year-old Michael lives a contented life with his mother, brother, and father… until the night he curiously stows away in his gangster father’s car and witnesses him conduct a brutal slaying. The lives of the entire family are shattered irrevocably as his mother and brother are murdered and he and his father are forced to flee, now a target of the very gangsters that they once called family. On the road to Perdition, his father determines to deal out revenge on the man who his wife and son, but when he learns that they are being tracked by a ruthless hired killer, protection of his boy becomes all that matters and these two familial strangers discover that there is more love and admiration for each other within them than they thought. 

Coming from American Beauty, Sam Mendes brings us this beautiful, just BEAUTIFUL gangster movie with a paternal twist. The action of the genre and the drama of the plot are a match made in heaven and I can honestly say that I’ve not seen a more moving father-and-son story since Big Fish. Road to Perdition is a beautifully crafted drama that had tears welling up in my eyes. Seriously, this movie is just so damned beautiful! 

12 year-old Michael lives a contented life with his mother, brother, and father… until the night he curiously stows away in his gangster father’s car and witnesses him conduct a brutal slaying. The lives of the entire family are shattered irrevocably as his mother and brother are murdered and he and his father are forced to flee, now a target of the very gangsters that they once called family. On the road to Perdition, his father determines to deal out revenge on the man who his wife and son, but when he learns that they are being tracked by a ruthless hired killer, protection of his boy becomes all that matters and these two familial strangers discover that there is more love and admiration for each other within them than they thought.  

When it comes to portraying the more complicated or gritty relations within families, Sam Mendes is THE MASTER! Audiences were in his vice-like grip as they watched the living Hell that this family living the ‘American Dream’ is in in American Beauty, and now he depicts this beautiful story of paternal redemption set against this sinister and bloody 1930s gangster backdrop. When we think ‘gangster movie’, immediately we think of bang-bang-blood-blood-“say-hello-to-my-little-friend!” type stuff, but Mendes takes the genre and turns it on its ear with this most beautiful paternal story. We’ve not only got this father-son story between the two leads, there is also this sort of Godfather-esque familial story where the boss and the gangsters are considered family by those who work for them. I found David Self’s screenplay just beautiful and the jabs at various families and how some are more grounded than others, fascinating. 

I particularly want to mention the soundtrack too because this beautiful instrumental score, composed by Thomas Newman who also did the soundtrack behind American Beauty, really helped to bring the drama, beauty, relief, and suspense to the movie. The music is absolutely gorgeous! 

We’ve got brilliant performances from absolutely everyone involved so I won’t go on and gush about each individual one, I’ll only say that you’ve got to watch this. 

Starring Tom Hanks, Paul Newman, Jude Law, Daniel Craig, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Stanley Tucci and introducing Tyler Hoechlin, Road to Perdition is a beautifully and masterfully crafted movie filled with love, redemption, action, violence, drama, and discovery. This was recommended to me by a uni friend and I’ll now have to say thank you because I would seriously have missed out on a truly beautiful movie!