:
Kerry Rossall,
Rick LeFevour,
James Fierro,
more...
:
Sam Mendes,
Sam Mendes
see all cast/crew...
: 
: DreamWorks
: Drama, Costume Drama/Period Piece, Comic Books, Alternative Press, Crime, Gangsters, Quest, Revenge
: 117 min.
: English, French
: English, Spanish, French
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The acclaimed graphic novel from crime writer Max Allan Collins becomes this big budget Dreamworks drama from director Sam Mendes and screenwriter David Self. Tom Hanks stars as Michael Sullivan, a morally conflicted Depression-era hit man committing murder in the name of his employer, John Rooney (Paul Newman). A kindly, aging Irish crime boss who raised Sullivan as his surrogate son, Rooney is affiliated with Al Capone in Chicago and thus wields great power in the "Tri-Cities" of Moline, IL; Rock Island, IL; and Davenport, IA. Curious about his father's mysterious profession, Sullivan's son, Michael Jr. (Tyler Hoechlin), stows away in his father's automobile one night and witnesses the execution of a man at the hands of Sullivan and Rooney's biological son, Connor (Daniel Craig). Although Michael keeps his promise to remain silent about what he's seen, the paranoid and unstable Connor tries to wipe out the entire Sullivan clan anyway, succeeding only in killing Sullivan's wife, Annie (Jennifer Jason Leigh), and youngest son, Peter (Liam Aiken). Enraged at this and another surprise betrayal by the Rooneys, Sullivan embarks on a path of bloody retribution, Michael in tow. Although he intends to leave his boy with relatives in the rural town of Perdition once the coast is clear, he ends up exposing Michael to the goriest aspects of his talents, slaughtering former associates as he dodges contract assassin Maguire (Jude Law) and cripples the cash flow of the Rooney and Capone organizations through a series of bank robberies, attempting to force either mob family to offer up the sequestered Connor as a sacrifice. Inspired by the popular Japanese comic book series Lone Wolf and Cub and based loosely on an episode from the life and career of notorious real-life crime figures John and Connor Looney, Road to Perdition co-stars Stanley Tucci as legendary Chicago mobster Frank Nitti. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
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| Hanks as a bad guy with a heart o' gold.
by monstress
July 8, 2005 - 5:52 PM PDT
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1 out of 1 members found this review helpful
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| I have grown weary of Tom Hanks and his seamless, processed cheese-like, easy-to-digest-as-steakum hokiness. I really have. This-and The Green Mile to a lesser extent-is a departure of sorts for him. It's nice to see him non-histrionically delivering lines and actually using stillness as a tool to portray a character. He may very well have range after all. The movie itself is pretty good, though it dabbles a bit too much in the Irish-as-Charming-Thugs trope for my taste. I am a potato eater from birth and I have yet to benefit from my Blarney Stone Kissers membership. |
| Hanks on tranqs robs banks
by DPenn
June 14, 2003 - 4:07 AM PDT
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5 out of 5 members found this review helpful
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| I have a couple of friends who have a problem with Tom Hanks. They're hung up on "Big" or "Splash" or something. Truth is, he's one of the best screen actors working, and delivers a wonderfully subdued performance here. Tight writing, editing and cinematography complement outstanding performances all around. If Mendes had chosen to cut the kid's voiceover at the beginning and end, I'd give it a 10. |
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GreenCine Member Rating
(Average 6.18)
293 Votes
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