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Road To Perdition Details

2002 Certificate 15
  • Rated:
  • 70
  • from 28,934 members

Directed by Sam Mendes and based on the graphic novel by Max Allan Collins and Richard Piers Rayner, the Depression-era crime epic ROAD TO PERDITION stars Tom Hanks as Michael Sullivan, a quiet hit man who is duty bound to Mafia boss John Rooney (Paul Newman). The mobster's close bond with Sullivan, however, leads Rooney's .. Read more

Starring Tom Hanks, Tyler Hoechlin, Paul Newman, Jude Law
Director Sam Mendes
Genres Drama

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Road To Perdition

Directed by Sam Mendes and based on the graphic novel by Max Allan Collins and Richard Piers Rayner, the Depression-era crime epic ROAD TO PERDITION stars Tom Hanks as Michael Sullivan, a quiet hit man who is duty bound to Mafia boss John Rooney (Paul Newman). The mobster's close bond with Sullivan, however, leads Rooney's jealous blood son, Connor (Daniel Craig), to orchestrate a tragic series of events that results in Sullivan on the run with his 12-year-old son, Michael Jr. (Tyler Hoechlin). Soon an unscrupulous crime photographer/assassin named Maguire (Jude Law) is sent after Sullivan and his son, and Sullivan must decide on a course of action as young Michael comes to terms with his father's violent way of life.
Meticulously directed by Mendes and brilliantly photographed by Conrad Hall, each scene of ROAD TO PERDITION has the composition of an expertly rendered painting. Making effective use of rain, snow, and shadows, the filmmakers create a cinematic world that's as dark, cold, and unforgiving as many of its inhabitants. But the film also allows for glimpses of emotional warmth, particularly in Sullivan's relationships with his son and Rooney, his surrogate father. In these roles, the respective actors create complex characters that resonate even in their restraint; Hanks is outstanding as a man of action with little time for words, while newcomer Hoechlin creates an unsentimental portrait of a confused boy, and Newman once again proves why he's a screen legend. And, in a strikingly unflattering role, Law makes the most out of his screen time as a creepy, parasitic hit man. Even in its harshest moments, however, Mendes never fails to remind the audience that ROAD TO PERDITION is a film about fathers and sons; and this is what elevates it from an atmospheric gangster movie to a truly astonishing work of art.

Starring Tom Hanks, Tyler Hoechlin, Paul Newman, Jude Law, Daniel Craig, Jennifer Jason Leigh
Director Sam Mendes
Studio 20TH CENTURY FOX HOME ENTERTAINMENT
Run time DVD: 1 hr 52 mins
Certificate Certificate 15
Genres Drama
Language DVD: English
Released DVD: 17 Mar 2003
Production year: 2002
Format DVD
  • Critics' reviews (3) of Road To Perdition

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  • 4 stars out of 5

    Director Sam Mendes here follows up his superlative Oscar winner American Beauty with another riveting, intelligent drama imbued with lyrical imagery. Based on a graphic novel set during the Depression era, it features Tom Hanks as a feared hitman working for Irish-American Mob boss Paul Newman, the man who raised him as a son. Professional and familial loyalties become blurred when Hanks's own family is targeted, forcing him to take to the road with his eldest son, as he embarks on a systematic course of revenge against his betrayers. Comparable to the Coen brothers' Miller's Crossing, this evocative gangster movie boasts superb photography, production design and score, which utterly transport the audience back to moody 1930s Chicago. Cast against type, Hanks — whose haunted eyes speak volumes — is a model of unruffled understatement, while an intimidating Newman radiates his usual strong presence. Jude Law's eccentric killer feels too much like a colourful movie creation, but is the only minor setback in a remarkable second feature from Mendes.

    • Radio Times
  • 2 stars out of 4

    Visually splendid crime thriller, with a balletic finale in the rain; but the approach is too ponderous to be entirely engaging and Hanks makes an unconvincing killer.

    • Halliwell's Film Guide
  • Most helpful member's review of Road To Perdition

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  • 26 out of 36 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 5 stars [Highly rated reviewer]

    And Daniel Craig was very good too!

    Intelligent and thought provoking and, with the exception of Jude Law's over the top hitman, very well acted. Newman as always is brilliant as is Tom Hank's take on a gangster of that era. Great direction, particularly the gunfire in the dark.

  • Most recent members' review of Road To Perdition

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  • 1 out of 1 person found this review helpful

    Rated - 1 star

    Road to purgatory

    Mendes, Hanks, Newman and Law. How do you make a bad film with these names?

    You can't, but it could, and should, have been so much better. Newman was class, Law was strange, Hanks was wooden and Mendes must have been influenced by the A-team judging by the shoot out in the hotel room. It was watchable, but Newman deserved better than that.

      • thekippaxkid from lancs
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Rating breakdown

28,934 Member ratings
  • 100
2,256
  • 90
2,832
  • 80
6,386
  • 70
5,961
  • 60
5,355
  • 50
2,826
  • 40
1,594
  • 30
921
  • 20
552
  • 10
251

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    • Directed by Sam Mendes and based on the graphic novel by Max Allan Collins and Richard Piers Rayner, the Depression-era crime epic ROAD TO PERDITION stars Tom Hanks as Michael Sullivan, a quiet hit ...