Directed by:
Sam MendesScreenplay:
David SelfCinematography:
Conrad L. HallComposer:
Thomas NewmanCast:
Tom Hanks, Tyler Hoechlin, Paul Newman, Jude Law, Daniel Craig, Stanley Tucci, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Liam Aiken, Dylan Baker, Ciarán Hinds, David Darlow (more)VOD (3)
Plots(1)
Two fathers: Michael Sullivan, a hit man for the Irish mob in Depression-era Chicago; and Mr. John Rooney, Sullivan's boss and the man who raised him as a son. Two sons: Michael Sullivan, Jr. and Connor Rooney, each desperate to earn his father's favor. Jealousy and competition put them all on a collision course, ultimately bringing Sullivan's work into his private life and leading to the death of his beloved wife and youngest son, Peter. Now Michael Sullivan and his surviving son are set on a journey instigated by tragedy and fueled by revenge. (official distributor synopsis)
(more)Reviews (14)
Based on the successful comic book series by Max Allan Collins. With his film American Beauty, Sam Mendes raised expectations among critics and fans to such a level that he couldn't meet them, no matter how hard he tried. From my perspective, after careful consideration, I prefer Road to Perdition. Sure, in terms of choosing the subject matter, it was an obvious safe bet, but there was also a calculation with American Beauty, albeit a more subtle one. Mendes's gangster film is a compact piece in every way, with perfect cinematography, a strong story, and charismatic characters. Comparing Road to Perdition with what I've seen in the past year, I have no choice but to increase my rating to five stars. Overall impression: 90%.
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Road to Perdition is a very nice film with excellent acting and cinematography. But that’s where the praise ends. In order for it to be a gangster flick on the level of Coppola’s The Godfather, it would have had to focus more attention on the relationship between Paul Newman and Tom Hanks. And no humor should have intruded on the gloomy atmosphere. As it is, it’s more like Eastwood’s A Perfect World, scented with the perfume of American Beauty and ending with an overwrought climax. And the formulaic nature of the plot doesn’t do it any favours either. The phrase “he was my father” was on the tip of my tongue before young Sullivan even said it.
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Great and almost reaching the highest score. Excellent performances, captivating retro-comic book stylisation (the last scene, when the accounts are settled, made me drool in bliss) and also very nice music, as it’s usual with Mendes. I really liked Road to Perdition.
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Or: How Even the Most Direct Road to Perdition Can Lead to Movie Perfection. A visually indescribably atmospheric watch. Precise acting, perfect camerawork and faultless and inventive directing. Sam Mendes filmed so far the most faithful adaptation of a comic book to come to the movie screen so far. Although the storyline is simple, that’s where its strength lies. It could be criticized for being a wonderful shiny load of nothing about father and son finding a way to each other, but that’s not the feeling I get from this. Quite the contrary, for one thing, the scene in the rain is now in my top ten best scenes ever. It just has everything. From emotions, through marvelous production design, immense atmosphere to the actors. And the entire movie is like that, just perhaps not so intense all the while. And that’s pretty good, don’t you think?
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I thought my taste was only oriented towards horror and Asia, this film confirms that my favorite subgenre is also gritty gangster films. Once again, an excellent cast, I've never had my fingers crossed for Tom Hanks like I did here, and as soon as the psychopathic Jude Law appears on the scene you wish him the worst from the first second. I definitely have to highlight the amazingly dark retro style, the intelligent story and the awesome soundtrack, even a tear dropped towards the end. Everything is actually flawless, nothing can be faulted.
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The best film Sam Mendes ever made and the absolute best in the gangster genre. The atypical casting of Tom Hanks as a dark hero is an ideal counterpart to Paul Newman's tragic boss, and his journey, fearlessly mowing down enemies led by the perfectly slimy Jude Law, is also captured with amazing cinematography (see the unforgettable arrival in Chicago) and supported by impressive music. An underrated film.
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Thanks to Mendes, this atmospheric gangster movie is quite untraditional (for the genre, not for Sam) in terms of visuals and is more colorful than usual. Sort of unusually “beautiful", but still dark. Excellent acting and that revolting creature Jude Law got that trick with the coin down to a T. Road to Perdition has several extraordinary scenes, but Thompson in the rain is enough to give you a heart attack.
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Atmospheric, artsy and relatively cold. Or a gangster flick according to Professor Sam Mendes.
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This is comic book taking another beating. But I don't want to start with the negatives: Road to Perdition is an excellently shot film with Newman's successful music, which appropriately supports the melancholic cinematography, and which, when added together, makes for a truly dense atmosphere. Sam Mendes has traditionally been able to nicely handle conversation and action scenes (the shootout in the room is something else - I'm looking forward to Skyfall), and the actors who have come together here are all excellent and do a really good job (I even took seriously the gangster played by Tom) and... And that's where the pros end. The biggest downside is... You guessed right... The script. I wonder why filmmakers keep doing this, but even this time they only took certain things from the comics (the opening 30 minutes or so and the bank robbery), twisted or threw away the rest and added their own ideas. And what ideas those were! Like the killer Maguire - sorry Jude, he's brilliantly acted, really, but completely unnecessary. Or the farmer and his wife, the stay with them and the silly epilogue that goes with it. Bleh. And so on. It’s too bad, because such a solid gangster atmosphere shouldn't be wasted. I give three and a half stars to this.
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Excellent, but missing something for a full rating, even if it fulfils almost everything I expected. First of all, superb actors, a precise atmosphere full of revenge and grief, and a lot of very well shot shootouts. Moreover, Sam Mendes is truly unique and his subtle and precise signature literally radiates from every shot. What disappointed me a bit was the poorly built-up finale and also, and I can't help it, the somewhat faintly outlined relationship between the killer-father and his young son, which should be the main driving force. Otherwise, though, Mendes has once again shown to be a brilliant director, and his Road to Perdition is a bleak and thrilling spectacle unparalleled in recent years. 85%
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Consumed with sentiment, pathos, and seriousness until my monitor cracked. Mendes is still the devil, yes. Scenes like the final showdown are absolutely fabulous. I didn't mind the Hanks stuff either. However, overall, I don't like the combination of a gangster movie with a tragic drama about discovering a relationship with your son. As long as it stays within the confines of a mafia movie, it's a fantasy. However, once the film moves into the "I had a nightmare" "Do you want to talk about it?" stages, it's bad. Because that sentiment is a little bit tacky in this movie.
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Road to Perdition is another film with my favorite theme. As Lord Vetinari used to say, if we can't eradicate crime, at least make it organized. The film had a great atmosphere, Tom Hanks' performance was excellent as usual, Jude Law was as pleasant as a bucket of slime and Paul Newman gave as fine a performance as Tom Hanks, as expected. I have only two gripes. It was crystal clear how it was going to end. I’m also not sure how it was possible that after the bullet hit the window, blood splattered the glass, but the projectile somehow mysteriously disappeared.
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I can't help it, but Tom Hanks just didn't work for me here. Or maybe I just thought Hanks would be a bit tougher. But I guess he couldn't afford such a hit to his image. That Sam Mendes would direct a good film is quite clear; what surprises me more is that it's based on a comic book written by Max Allan Collins. I haven't read the comic yet, but I'll get to it eventually. It's sitting on my desk. Mendes chose a perfect style, and the right visual approach, and he mostly enhances the intensity of situations with minimal explicitness. The finale was excellent, and I admit I had completely forgotten about it.
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The technically precise Mendes unfortunately made mere pawns out of his characters in Road to Perdition, who wear very nice suits and can pull the trigger at the right/wrong moment, but that's really all they can do, to put it mildly. As an "action academic film" it's perfect; as a "fatalistic and classic gangster film" it fails, especially in the psychology of the characters. Sam Mendes, in my opinion, struggled with this "phenomenon" in his first two films (in American Beauty it was still the wow-effect and so a lot of the imperfections faded in the background), Road to Perdition is unfortunately now completely marred by it (which is a shame, because the potential to become a classic was definitely there). Since the days of Jarhead I have no significant problem with Mendes, on the contrary I consider him one of the most imaginative filmmakers of our time (yes, I liked Skyfall a lot). His range is simply wide and he can be far above average in any genre – whether it's social drama, gangster film (even despite my criticisms), an incredibly fresh and in its own way timeless account of war, a maximally heated romantic drama, an almost family drama that is also but terribly sweet and human, and last but not least a Bond film that he directed really precisely. On the other hand, I have to say that even though Road to Perdition is rather mediocre in the context of his entire oeuvre, when compared to most of his other output it's still a very above average work.
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