Directed by: Sam Mendes

Cast: Tyler Hoechlin, Liam Aiken, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tom Hanks, Paul Newman, Daniel Craig, Jude Law

Runtime: 117 mins

Sam Mendes is one of the top producers and directors Hollywood has had in some time. He has changed the face of Hollywood by bringing cinema to the mainstream with films like American Beauty, Road to Perdition and Jar Head. He is one of the most inventive people I have seen in ages. There is a very unflinching understand that he has towards characters and tone of films. His pacing of the film is more with what is going on inside the mind of the character and what has brought the character to this point.

This film was one of the byproducts of graphic novel genre. There has been new age for cinema with the advent of several graphic novels turning into movies. There is a lot of depth in these novels that has drawn some of the best technicians into their parlors. Road to Perdition pulled Sam to this minimalist yet tone conscience film. The film for some people might be a little distant because of its use of ambience and characters mannerism to portray emotions. There are points in the film where you feel like Tom Hanks character Sullivan is rotting with every trigger he pulls. The only thing that keeps his existence sort of intact is his interaction with his son.

The film has some really interesting character played by some great actors like Jude Law, Paul Newman and others. Jude Law plays a crime photographer who kills his victims and takes photographs of them. He shaves his head bald for this role and adds an evil tinge to his smile. He steals the show in every frame by portraying someone who has basked in the intoxication of evil. The film has some of the most beautiful shots of the city that have been lit to minimalist proportions. Some of the dialogs in the film are also very polished with so little of it in the film just the right amount is there. The relationship goes into a bond only after the death of his wife and his younger son. Sullivan begins to be a little protective of what might happen to his son if he was caught.

The film deals with a lot of violence that is so ingrained in several of the characters that at times the film seems to be aching for a pause. But the pauses come in very minute forms leaving a lot to be desired for the characters well being. It leaves the audience pretty cold towards the character. But there is an art of engaging an audience to a severed plot.

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