Review of Road to Perdition (2002) by Dylan D — 16 Dec 2015

Every year, there are always a few select films snubbed from contention in the race for Oscar's best picture. Every decade, there are one or two films that stand out amongst those as the best of the unjustly left behind.

One such picture is Director Edward Zwick's Glory, and another is Sam Mendes' Road to Perdition. Though not completely overlooked during awards season -- Conrad Hall won a much-deserved posthumous Oscar for his exemplary cinematography and the film received several additional nominations -- the absence of a Best Picture nomination, as with Glory, seems one of the great injustices in the long history of the awards.

Nevertheless, those missing notches from its belt in no way detract from what a remarkable piece of filmmaking this is. Road to Perdition is easily one of the most beautiful pictures ever made. It's got a great cast and an even better story as complimentary pieces, but there's no doubt that it's in Mendes' and Hall's brilliant craftsmanship where Road to Perdition will find its legacy as one of cinema's finest works of art.