Ain't It Cool News (www.aintitcool.com)
Movie News

Kid Mikey and The Three Musketeers examine Sam Mendes' ROAD TO PERDITION with Tom Hanks!

Hey folks, Harry here with Kid Mikey and the 3 Musketeers with their looks at one of the absolute most anticipated films of 2002... ROAD TO PERDITION, the sophmore outing of Sam Mendes, following up his turn at directing AMERICAN BEAUTY. The darkest of turns for star Tom Hanks, and a period gangster/hitman style film to boot. This my friends sounds like a winner. This first review has only the slightest of spoilers and the second has none at all. The first mentions a dislike of the actor playing Hanks' son, but in a very non-specific manner -- and says that he has a general dislike for child actors, so who knows how problematic that may be. As for the second, the three friends all claim to have been blown off their collective 6 feet. Reviews or not, I was headed for this film and I'm as excited as I have ever been for this film. Enjoy...

Harry. Long time reader.. first time writer. I'll try to keep this as brief as possible since.. well, i'm just not a very good writer.

The citizens of Mountain View, California were fortunate last night to have been the first to test screen the new Sam Mendes film, "The Road to Perdition." Being an avid visitor of your site, I was for the most part, familiar with the story of this movie. So heading into the movie theater, I tried not to go in with high expectations. Well, I did. And for the most part, I was not disapointed.

Though this was the first cut of the film, it seemed very complete. Effects looked clean and polished. Editing was neatly done, except for it being a little choppy. And except for some points where they used filler music from American Beauty, the score seemed nearly done as well.

This movie clocks in at around 2 hours. Upon finding that out I was a little surprised. This movie feels slightly longer than that, yet not once did I look at my watch. It took me a little while to really get into this movie. The beginning of the film felt a little bit rushed. The editing felt frantic at times, as though they were trying to push the intro portion of the movie as quickly as they could so that the main chunk could begin. But that's what test screening are for right? I have no doubt that these minor pacing problems will get fixed, no biggie.

I'll try not to reveal too much. Tom Hank's does a superb acting job portraying the character of Michael Sullivan. I think a lot of American audiences are going to be surprised to see him killing people in this movie. It's a drastic change from his usual "honest, good guy" type of role, and I'm glad he decided to do this. From your reports though.. I had thought he was gonna go all out bad guy on us, but he didn't. He kills, but he has a reason. Hanks plays the character off as a compassionate man who only kills because he has to. The child actor playing his son seemed a little sub par. To be frank, I had a freakin hard time feeling any compassion for the the son. Oh, and Paul Newman does a superb job playing the father figure character of Michael Sullivan.

The film really begins to pickup at the scene where Michael's son discovers his father's profession. There are quite a lot of killings in this movie, yet nearly every death scene has a very artistic approach to it. Mendes has shot this movie beautifully. He uses smart angles and great lighting to full effect. I'd gasp everytime someone died because of the way Mendes had builtup the scenes. Everytime someone died I felt what Michael Sullivan felt when he had to pull that trigger.

In one scene in particular, the "diner scene," I was on the edge of my seat. The pacing was excellent throughout the main body of the movie. It picked up when it needed to in all the right places. And the movie followed through very well, until it hit the ending. The ending was decent but not at all too satisfying. The movie begins and ends with the child narrating. Perhaps it's my dislike for this child actor.. but the narration by him toward the end felt a little heartless. And it being a child narrating, it seemed a little hard to take what he was saying seriously.

At the end of the movie I found my pencil tip hovering over my survey, undecided to check mark the movie as "excellent" or "very good." I ended up checking the "very good" box. This movie's great but I think they need to add a little more to the beginning as well as the ending. The main hunk of the movie was excellent, they just need to keep that flow and follow through.

My friends and I noticed Sam Mendes sitting bout a row in front of us.. but right when the movie ended, to our disapointment, he dashed out of the theater. But we did manage to kinda bump into him as we were heading to the parking lot. He seemed thrilled to know we enjoyed ourselves quite a bit. He seemed like a very nice and gracious guy. Upon leaving he said to us "Thanks a lot! Glad to hear it. Now write some internet reviews! Lots of em!" So here I am, trying my best to write a review with my dodgy writing style.

By the time of release for this film, it should be excellent. I recomend all of you to check it out.

kid mikey

Harry here again, this time with a trio of chums that were 'blown' off their feet. That is what we like to call a 'good sign' in a review. This tribunal of mates raised their three swords in salute to Mendes' sophmore effort, let us hope the honor is worthy... Somehow, I think it will be...

Hey Harry,

Tonight we got the chance to see "Road to Perdition" at its first test screening in our little town of Mountain View, California. We'll make this update brief since the movie is in its most basic and primitive form. Let me start off by saying that it is a film with amazing potential. Even in the raw form that we saw it in, we can honestly say that Sam Mendes has once again blown us off our feet.

The movie, for the most part, looked complete except for the very beginning and ending, and there was a bit of filler music similar to the music in American Beauty. The role Tom Hanks plays in the film is a far departure from his usual lovable and refined characters.

The movie opened slowly with an introduction to the life Tom Hanks and his family leads as members of the Depression Era Crime Ring but quickly picked up and pulled us into the world. Unfortunately, the relationship between Tom Hanks and his son in the movie didn't happen until midway through the film. Jude Law also plays a small role in the movie as a hitman sent to kill Sullivan and his son.

Overall, the cinematography was beautiful, the settings were unique and well-crafted, and the death scenes were done in an appealing, artistic, and poignant manner. Acting, for the most part, was well done and Tom Hanks portrayed a convincing character. However, the child actor portraying his son, although a good effort, failed to match the level of realism that Tom Hanks was able to achieve. The body of the film, where Tom Hanks and his son begin to bond on their journey for revenge, seemed to be the most solid portion of the film.

It can't go without saying that Sam Mendes was at the screening and it was cool to talk with him afterwards after everyone had left.

This movie will be a real treat for all of you when it is released in July!

-Out!-

The Three Musketeers

Readers Talkback
comments powered by Disqus