Road to Perdition: Difference between revisions

A 2002 film, directed by Sam Mendes, based on a comic of the same name (itself inspired by the manga ''[[Lone Wolf and Cub]]''). [[The Irish Mob|Mobster]] Michael Sullivan ([[Tom Hanks]]), and his son who followed him to work, witness the mob boss ([[Paul Newman]])'s son Connor (Daniel Craig) shoot a fellow employee (Ciaran Hinds) for [[Stealing From the Till|embezzling]] [[The Syndicate]].

 

 

The film deals largely with father-and-son relationships -- both the protagonists and the villain of the movie have deep issues with paternal [[Parental Favouritism|favouritism]] and [["Well Done, Son" Guy|respect]]. Whereas Connor forces his father to try to protect him at the cost of a man he clearly [[True Companions|loves as a son]], Michael becomes determined that his only surviving child [[Evil Parents Want Good Kids|will not become like him]].

* [[The Collector of the Strange]] - Maguire has a collection of photographs of corpses, at least some of which are his own handiwork.

* [[Composite Character]] - The random mooks from the comic were all combined into a [[Canon Foreigner|brand new character]] for the movie: Maguire.

* [[Dead Little Sister]]: {{spoiler|Sullivan's wife and younger son}}.

* [[Dissonant Serenity]] - The silent gunfight.

* [[Dragon Their Feet]] - {{spoiler|After the protagonist kills the entire Rooney crime family, Psycho For Hire Maguire still shows up at the end and kills him, despite the fact the people who were paying Maguire were already all dead}}.

* [[Evil Parents Want Good Kids]]

* [[Film Noir]]

* [[Historical Domain Character]] - Frank Nitti, the entirely unseen Al Capone.

* {{spoiler|[[Kill'Em All]]: Every named non-historical character dies except Michael the younger (and John Looney in the comic).}}

* [[Moral Event Horizon]] - this is almost the exact meaning of "perdition" - being doomed to go to hell once and for all, with no chance of salvation.

{{quote| ''Because it's all so fuckin' hysterical...''}}

* [[Rule of Symbolism]]: Mendes deliberately wrote every death to be near or surrounded by water to demonstrate the commoness (and uncontrollability) of death in the mobster's lives.

** The Looney Family from the comic became the Rooney family for the movie. Oddly, The former surname was more historically accurate.

** Likewise the O'Sullivans were called the Sullivans in the movie.