MovieChat Forums > Road to Perdition (2002) Discussion > Great movie with some serious flaws

Great movie with some serious flaws

posted 9 years ago by r-smith-92
6 replies | jump to latest

I loved this movie but I have some issues still. So Daniel Craig is going to kill Sullivan Sr.'s family because he thinks Jr. will talk and also probably because he is jealous of the relationship Sullivan has with his father. He knows if he leaves anyone in the family alive, there could be problems, especially with Sullivan Jr. & Sr. So then:

1. Why does Daniel Craig send Sullivan Sr., a highly skilled hitman, to be killed by a club owner and not even tell him beforehand? Even if he needs to do it behind his father's back, I would think there are better ways of doing it. The opportunities are ample considering their line of work and their relationship.

2. Daniel Craig kills the wife and youngest son but seems to make no effort to find Sullivan Jr. Why didn't he stay in the house until Sullivan Jr. came home and then kill him? Sullivan Jr. was after all the one who could talk to the police.

I know Craig isn't very smart but he is not a complete idiot. Even if he was an idiot, I don't think it's a good enough excuse for a movie of this calibre. It was a really sloppy assassination attempt I think.

I couldn't quite bring myself to give this a 10/10 because these things bugged me quite a bit. But I really want to give it 10 so please prove me wrong!

[–] januaryjoy_83 9 years ago

The only thing I can possibly provide an explanation for is the intent to kill Sullivan, Jr.

In the movie Daniel Craig's character can't seem to remember which son is which and often confuses the two. He thought he killed Jr. but it was the youngest son instead. It's evident when the man tell Sullivan Sr. to take his youngest son (I can't remember his name) and move on but Sullivan tells him that he can't because he is dead. It is then that they realize that Craig killed the wrong son.

[–] r-smith-92 9 years ago

Ah, thank you. I thought it was weird that Craig killed the wife and only one son and never seemed to care about the second one. And it's especially weird when he isn't sure which is which. But that makes some sense, I didn't catch that he was told to move on with his youngest son. Cheers.

[–] januaryjoy_83 9 years ago

No problem! I wish I could revive this board. I suppose the movie is quite old now so no one post here anymore.

[–] BulletHeadedSaxonMothersSon 9 years ago

Why does Daniel Craig send Sullivan Sr., a highly skilled hitman, to be killed by a club owner and not even tell him beforehand? Even if he needs to do it behind his father's back, I would think there are better ways of doing it. The opportunities are ample considering their line of work and their relationship.

Connor needed to send Sullivan to the Italian night club owner under the guise that he was sending him to deliver a message to the owner to pay "tribute" in order to catch Sullivan off-guard. Connor couldn't just kill Sullivan himself since he'd need to find some way of overpowering Sullivan or getting his gun away. But you do make a good point about Connor not giving the night club owner a heads up that he was sending Sullivan there for the guy to kill him. Then again, that's probably a good example of a plot contrivance, i.e. if Connor had given him a heads up, the guy wouldn't have hesitated to kill Sullivan, Instead, he only finds out in the form of the letter Sullivan gives him, and therefore it took the club owner by surprise since he hesitated so long before reaching for his gun on the desk, thus giving Sullivan enough time to realize something was up.

[–] redban (6548) 4 years ago

Another detail to remember -- Connor was going behind his dad's back; his dad (Paul Newman) didn't want Sullivan dead. (Remember when Rooney Sr. beats up Daniel Craig, saying "I curse the day you were born"). That could be why he didn't tip off the club owner beforehand. Didn't want the club owner to call Rooney Sr. and say, "Hey ... some dude asked me to kill Sullivan. Is this legit or what?" With the note, the club owner could react on the spot, with Sullivan right there in front of him. No questions asked, and Rooney Sr. is none the wiser.

[–] monroea3 8 years ago

Well, the other poster explained #2 & as for #1, get real that's not a real complaint.