The Road to Perdition on DVD |
Then there's the superb acting from everyone involved.
Reviews of The Road to Perdition were somewhat
mixed. I wonder if that was because it was based on a graphic novel -- a comic book to the
non-enthusiast. But there are comic books and then there are stories that can only be
described as sequential narrative art, ambitious stories that can only be told with a mix
of pictures and words. Art Speigelman's Pulitzer-winning Maus comes to mind; so
does Jason Lutes' Jar of Fools. These are works that employ the visual language of
comics in very sophisticated ways -- POV changes frequently, time passes either very
rapidly or quite slowly in "the spaces between panels," and volumes are implied
by close-ups of characters' faces as they react to actions or revelations.
The Road to Perdition is a tragedy, of course. Set
in the underworld of the late 1920s, its protagonists subscribe to a moral code that
writes their ends from the moment they embrace it. It is also the story of fathers and
sons -- two sets related by blood, one by respect.
Michael Sullivan (Tom Hanks) is an enforcer for
"fatherly" John Rooney (Paul Newman). When Sullivan is sent to "talk"
to an underling with Rooney's son Connor (Daniel Craig), he is forced to defend Connor
when he sets off a gun battle. Unfortunately, Sullivan's son, Michael Jr. (Tyler Hoechlin)
witnesses the melee and, in attempt to eliminate the boy as a witness, Connor murders
Sullivan's wife and younger child.
Sullivan, mindful of the unwritten code he has chosen to
live by, immediately drives to Chicago with Michael Jr. seeking Frank Nitti's (Stanley
Tucci) permission for him to turn on his employer's son. Nitti refuses and Sullivan vows
to hit the mob where it hurts until his nemesis is surrendered to him. Sullivan and
Michael Jr. set off on a spree of robberies that target "dirty money only --
everything you're holding for Capone."
Having chosen their courses, all that is left is for the
protagonists to play them out.
There's more, of course. Jude Law shows up as Maguire, a
Weegie-like crime photographer cum hit man and, of course, there's a fair bit of
father/son bonding from Hanks and Hoechlin, but the basic story is as streamlined as a
Greek tragedy -- or a comic book, perhaps. That's not a cheap shot, by the way. Much of
the power of Greek tragedy lies in its streamlined (and inexorable) story line. Ditto for
the comics. By its end, the way that The Road to Perdition plays by its own rules
and exists in its own moral universe is precisely what gives it such power.
In one of its most telling scenes, Sullivan demands that
Rooney surrender Connor and Rooney refuses. "He murdered Annie and Peter,"
Sullivan cries.
"There are only murderers in this room!" Rooney
responds. "Michael! Open your eyes! This is the life we chose, the life we lead. And
there is only one guarantee: none of us will see heaven."
"Michael could," Sullivan whispers.
"Then do everything that you can to see that that
happens."
That's the true journey in The Road to Perdition --
and the destination isn’t perdition but redemption.
I haven't read the graphic novel RTP was based upon,
but I am familiar with Max Allen Collins' work as a mystery writer and a writer of comics.
I find his mysteries a little too much of the hard-boiled Mickey Spillane school for my
taste, but he has pared his scripting style for comics down to a very eloquent artlessness
(seeming artlessness, I should say). When teamed with a visually unexpressive
artist, his economy is squandered -- his Ms. Tree comics with Terry Beatty were
marred by Beatty's inability to portray the nuances of facial expression.
This is pertinent to The Road to Perdition because
Mendes has remained phenomenally true to the spirit of a graphic novel and chosen to tell
his tale as fully as possible with striking images and the facial expressions of his crack
cast of actors. RTP could almost have been a silent film; it only needs a few title
cards to tell its tale.
Mendes gets another comic’s convention right, too: the
elasticity of time. In the midst of chaos, details are highlighted. There are languorous
passages punctuated with frenetic ones and the whole film seems precisely as long as it
needs to be.
But most of all, RTP is a treat for the eyes. Conrad
L. Hall has shot a film that is strong and dark and cold. Even the bright sunlight smacks
of winter, but mostly it rains in RTP. This enables Hall to expand upon one of his
most famous scenes -- the segment in In Cold Blood where Robert Blake's face is
shot with the shadows of raindrops flowing down it like the tears he could not weep. In RTP,
the heavens weep, rooms weep, and everything grieves.
It is all captured spectacularly on the fine DVD transfer,
which is demonstration quality for its naturalness and deep, detailed, darkness. You want
to discover how well your video display deals with true black? Watch this DVD and -- if
you're fortunate -- marvel.
...Wes Phillips
wes@onhometheater.com
