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Audience Rating: R (Restricted) Binding: VHS Tape EAN: 9780783269849 Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC ISBN: 0783269846 Label: Dreamworks Video Manufacturer: Dreamworks Video Number Of Items: 1 Publisher: Dreamworks Video Release Date: August 05, 2003 Running Time: 117 minutes Sales Rank: 2656 Studio: Dreamworks Video Theatrical Release Date: July 12, 2002
Amazon.com: In Road to Perdition, Tom Hanks plays a hit man who finds his heart. Michael Sullivan (Hanks) is the right-hand man of crime boss John Rooney (Paul Newman), but when Sullivan's son accidentally witnesses one of his hits, he must choose between his crime family and his real one. The movie has a slow pace, largely because director Sam Mendes (American Beauty) seems to be in love with the gorgeous period locations. Hanks gives a deceptively battened-down performance at first, only opening up toward the very end of the film, making his character's personal transformation all the more convincing. Newman turns in a masterful piece of work, revealing Rooney's advancing age but at the same time, his terrifying power. Jude Law is also a standout, playing a hit man-photographer with chilling creepiness. This movie requires a little patience, but the beautiful cinematography and moving ending make it well worth the wait. --Ali Davis
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - There's a problem when you start at the top.........
The only direction from there is down. Sam Mendes' sophomore feature film effort isn't quite as expensive or unsatisfying as Michael Camino's junior effort, Heaven's Gate, but it comes close. This is the problem of, pardon the expression, shooting your wad too soon. Where to start?
Miscasting: Daniel Craig being the only exception. How can you waste Jennifer Jsson Leigh in a bit part? Barely a bit part! Just because an actor can handle a part it doesn't mean you can or should cast them in the part. Newman was extraordinarily perfect (yes I know the problem with that) as Sid Mussburger ... Read More
Rating: - A very fine, well-made film.
The "Road to Perdition" is a film about relationships, family, ethnicity, community and very much about America. More specifically, it is a story about a son, one of two, and his father. It is film with a lot of drive that gets it from the action in the story, more than from the dialogue. Overall, it has an honesty that comes across from the direction, the actors, the costumes and the scenery/locations. Most recognized in the awards the film gathered was the cinematography by Conrad Hall, which probably contributed most of all to the touching and haunting quality of the music for the film score. ... Read More
Rating: - Do not overlook
This is another film of great subtlety where I think Tom Hanks really plays one of his most daring roles as a father of two boys that also works for the mob during prohibition era.
The movie is really about a son and father struggling to know one another and being forced together after the loss of the rest of the family.
Jude Law also plays one of his darkest characters as a sick assassin for hire.
The directing and lighting are absolutely flawless, and when I first saw the climax scene in the theater, I was amazed at how the silence and darkness were used to make such an atmosphere.
Rating: - Atmospheric Prohibition-era coming-of-age gem
Nothing I can say about this great movie hasn't already been said, but I love it so dearly I must write about it. It is ultimately a story of love and betrayal, duty and devotion, tempered by the stark black-and-white sensibilities of 30s-era crime lords and the social auras of that time.
Tom Hanks - who can play anything flawlessly, from drama to comedy - is Michael Sullivan, a man who came under the wing of John Rooney (Paul Newman, in a stellar turn for a stellar career), boss of the Irish mafia in the Midwest, when his father died. His characterization of the role is perfect; austere, ... Read More
Rating: - Great Movie
Road to Perdition (Full Screen Edition) I really love this movie. It is so dramatic and sad. The unspoken love of a dad for his son and the adventures they experience, though frightening, bring them closer together up to the sad ending that suprised my family and I.
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