Everything about this movie is superb - the script, the cinematography, the music and the performances. An intelligently told tale of redemption and retribution, with the one false note of the excessively "heavenly" Perdition which is the end point of the journey. Unfortunately, the casting of the lead role with Tom Hanks was a major miscalculation that may have caused this film to be less well received than perhaps it ought to be.
The basic story is absolutely perfect for creating perpetual dramatic conflict. The ruthless killer, chief hit-man for the Irish mafia no less, suddenly in a position where he has to constantly do what he would otherwise never do - show his love for his family. If you are immediately convinced of the ruthlessness, the cold heartlessness of the man in the performance of his job, he can scarcely do anything in the course of this story which won't surprise the audience and reveal a layer of character. And this is the rub.
Tom Hanks already *is* the loving, giving family man, so the only surprise is that he is cast as a dour mob assassin; after that his actions don't surprise at all, since we know Tom Hanks will have a deep-seated love for his son and to do anything and everything to save him. When Hanks arrives at his house and goes upstairs to find his murdered wife and younger son, his heartwrung cry of anguish is nothing less than we would expect from the actor who has never been afraid to show his emotions. But this destroys the character of Michael Sullivan as he is described by the other characters. The only time that Sullivan actually kills someone in a totally ruthless manner, the film chickens out! Maybe it was at Hanks' insistence so as not to look bad for his core audience. But if there was ever a character point which needed spelling out in cold blood, it was when he did indeed "shoot the messenger", having just left his son outside in the car. Instead of which, Mendes had the camera pull in on Hanks's face, censoring the murder he is committing. It should have been shown in the same way as Connor Rooney's (Craig) murder of Finn (Ciaran Hinds): no hesitation and the full uncensored bloody consequences.
The end result is that the portion of the film in which Michael Sullivan is getting to know his son Mike Jr. has no impact. Michael Sullivan teaching his kid to drive is Tom Hanks teaching a kid to drive, only without Hanks's customary humour; we're certainly not learning anything new.
However, everything else about the film is so good (Newman, of course, money in the bank, and the two Brits - the already established Jude Law and the if-I'm-not-mistaken-soon-to-be-big-in-Hollywood Daniel Craig are both utterly superb; Conrad Hall's valedictory work as dp, here reunited with Paul Newman after shooting him in Butch Cassidy and Cool Hand Luke thirty and more years ago; Thomas Newman's plangent score) that it would be a shame not to see it at least once.
The basic story is absolutely perfect for creating perpetual dramatic conflict. The ruthless killer, chief hit-man for the Irish mafia no less, suddenly in a position where he has to constantly do what he would otherwise never do - show his love for his family. If you are immediately convinced of the ruthlessness, the cold heartlessness of the man in the performance of his job, he can scarcely do anything in the course of this story which won't surprise the audience and reveal a layer of character. And this is the rub.
Tom Hanks already *is* the loving, giving family man, so the only surprise is that he is cast as a dour mob assassin; after that his actions don't surprise at all, since we know Tom Hanks will have a deep-seated love for his son and to do anything and everything to save him. When Hanks arrives at his house and goes upstairs to find his murdered wife and younger son, his heartwrung cry of anguish is nothing less than we would expect from the actor who has never been afraid to show his emotions. But this destroys the character of Michael Sullivan as he is described by the other characters. The only time that Sullivan actually kills someone in a totally ruthless manner, the film chickens out! Maybe it was at Hanks' insistence so as not to look bad for his core audience. But if there was ever a character point which needed spelling out in cold blood, it was when he did indeed "shoot the messenger", having just left his son outside in the car. Instead of which, Mendes had the camera pull in on Hanks's face, censoring the murder he is committing. It should have been shown in the same way as Connor Rooney's (Craig) murder of Finn (Ciaran Hinds): no hesitation and the full uncensored bloody consequences.
The end result is that the portion of the film in which Michael Sullivan is getting to know his son Mike Jr. has no impact. Michael Sullivan teaching his kid to drive is Tom Hanks teaching a kid to drive, only without Hanks's customary humour; we're certainly not learning anything new.
However, everything else about the film is so good (Newman, of course, money in the bank, and the two Brits - the already established Jude Law and the if-I'm-not-mistaken-soon-to-be-big-in-Hollywood Daniel Craig are both utterly superb; Conrad Hall's valedictory work as dp, here reunited with Paul Newman after shooting him in Butch Cassidy and Cool Hand Luke thirty and more years ago; Thomas Newman's plangent score) that it would be a shame not to see it at least once.