The end of “Road To Perdition” uses different methods of framing the actors- either through the set or solely through the camera lens- to explain the film's resolution. Michael Sullivan (Tom Hanks) is framed to suggest his death, and the final shot of Michael Sullivan, Jr. (Tyler Hoechlin) is framed to communicate a hopeful, new beginning due to a build of understanding.
Just before Harlen Maguire (Jude Law) shoots Michael Sullivan, a shot of Michael is framed by the window. We as viewers are looking in on Michael looking out at the shore. In the window frame veiling Michael, we see the ocean washing in and Michael Jr. playing with the dog on the shore. Michael is reflected in the glass, and we see the furniture of the supposed sanctuary behind Michael. Everything seems to be where it should be, framed in an almost picturesque way. The only sound we hear is the ocean. However, there is an off-feeling we get from Michael being cut off at the waist by the window pane, and from the fact that Michael is veiled by the glass and reflections. Why isn't he sharing actual space with Michael, Jr. now that they are “free” and “safe?” Michael is practically already in afterlife in this shot, looking over Michael Jr. and the future from an other-wordy place. Suddenly, Michael is buckled by a shot from behind him and an exit wound bursts open in the center of his chest, bloodying his shirt and the glass before he falls. Other than the two gunshots, all we hear is still the ocean: in this case, the water is a symbol of death versus baptism.
The end of the movie focuses on a similar shot centering Michael Jr., however there are a few major differences that allow us as viewers to know he will not be dying anytime soon. The camera lens frames Michael Jr. from behind at the water's edge; he has turned his back on what happened in the beach house and on the road behind him, and is instead focused on the wide horizon ahead. It is a far more open shot than Michael Sr.'s because no element of the set is framing Michael Jr. on top of the camera lens, and there is nothing like the window's glass from before to veil Michael Jr. His entire body is shown in the framing, also unlike his father's shot. We have a freer, safer sense about Michael Jr.'s future before he even begins to speak to us. The camera zooms in to focus on his mind putting the pieces together as he tells us what the entire film has meant: “I saw then that my father's only fear was that his son would follow the same road. And that was the last time I ever held a gun.” Soft piano music now combined with the sounds of the ocean communicate a baptism: hope in a new beginning for Michael Jr. He focuses on the horizon until the shot cuts, realizing that by his father's road to perdition he has been granted this new life.
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