Rating: 
Summary: The Devil is coming to collect his due
Review: This is a morality play about two intellegent men that consciously and willingly made a pact with the Devil, trading temporal riches for their immortal souls. Through a series of violent actions they come to realize how close they are to having to pay the bill. It is the men's horror at what they owe that drives the plot of the movie.
Technically the movie is excellent. The weather, the times of day for certain scenes, uses of shadow, the music and the sound track give the movie tremendous depth. The acting is superb. The director cleverly intersperced scenes that developed the movie's characters with action scenes that developed the plot.
Rating:
Summary: "Road" is a Spellbinding Journey
Review: Sam Mendes weaves a tragic and moving story about family, loyalties and ulterior motives in "Road to Perdition". Sporting an all-star cast including Tom Hanks as Michael Sullivan, an adopted "family man" -- and Paul Newman as the leader of a Irish Mafia family and Sullivan's father figure; roles that are assured of garnering Oscar buzz for both actors in the coming months. The story follows Michael Sullivan's eldest son after he accidentally learns the truth about his father's occupation and is forced to rethink how he percives his father. Add to this volitile mixture the mob boss's dim-witted son who takes it upon himself to assure that the younger Sullivan never speaks of what he has seen. A resulting tragedy causes the Sullivans to hit the road in an attempt to exact a modicum of justice from the otherwise polluted world of organized crime. The film also stars Jude Law as a psychopathic photographer with a unique occupation and gift for assassination. Tightly plotted and suberbly filmed and acted, "Road to Perdition" is a spectacular motion picture that delves deep into the dicotomy of family and the burdens thus placed there by resulting responsibilities. Heart-wrenching at times, soul-lifting at others and always entertaining, "Road" will certainly set you on the path to a wonderful cinematic experience. Highly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: Hanks as a gangster!?
Review: My title reflects my first reaction when I heard about this movie some time ago. I have been looking forward to its release...and was not disappointed when I saw it last weekend.Hanks is so different in this movie. More reserved, subtle, and allows other actors, esp. his son, to share in the limelight. He plays a hitman, and acts as one. Another great performance to put on his resume. As for the rest of the movie, it's a lot darker and more violent than I ever would have expected. This is a revenge movie, so that must be understood. With the beautiful scenery and wardrobes, I was unconsciously comparing it to The Untouchables throughout. Mendes does a great job directing, and has already established himself to be a director worth watching. A Newsweek article complained that this movie was trying to hard. Rubbish. It's simply Hanks and Mendes collaborating on a gangster movie with dark undertones. Newman is also great in it, as is Jude Law (in by far his creepiest role) and the sons, Newman's and Hank's. This is the best-acted movie of the year thus far. I know there will be some Oscar nominations for those involved, and the nominations will be well deserved. I think this is a really great movie for adults, and would highly recommend it. I am going to see it again later tonight. And I'm not one to spend $7.00 on a movie twice.
Rating:
Summary: Hanks Does It Again
Review: One of the best movies that I have seen this year. From the beginning to the end you will stay on the edge of your seat. Tom Hanks deserves an oscar nomination, and Paul Newman wasn't a slouch. I hated the character played by Jude Law, but he was persistent. This is a must see movie.
Rating: 
Summary: Gorgeous, Oscar-Groomed, and Hollow as Can Be
Review: Do you remember Easters of your youth, when you discovered a gigantic, gold-wrapped chocolate rabbit sitting in your basket? Remember how delicious it looked, and you knew, from the packaging, that it must be tasty and you would be working on it for a good two weeks? And then remember how, when you bit into the rabbit and found out the stupid thing was hollow, you thought that Someone Up There must be mocking your trivial existence? Sam Mendes' ('American Beauty') new film 'Road to Perdition,' based on the graphic novel of the same name, manages to illicit the same feelings ' and that's about the only feeling it creates. Paul Newman is an Irish mob boss in a smaller Illinois town in 1931, part of Al Capone's crumbling empire (remember, Kevin Costner put him in jail by now). Tom Hanks is one of his hit men, whose luckless son (newcomer Tyler Hoechlin) witnesses Hanks killing someone. When Newman's jealous son, played by Daniel Craig, decides to protect his name by killing Hanks' family, Hanks and his surviving son take off on a road trip (to, you guessed it, Perdition, Illinois), hoping to convince the mob bosses in Chicago and his hometown to let him execute Newman's kid. So the whole story is about revenge. Granted, Shakespeare did pretty well with that subject, but traditionally, it doesn't allow for much character development, and less emotion, other than 'we got the bad guys! Yippee!' This is 'Road's' biggest flaw: the plot, when all else is stripped away, is pencil-thin and the characters ultimately two-dimensional. Hanks and Newman both turn in stellar performances, but their characters aren't as memorable Hoechlin's, simply because he was given more of a chance to develop and show a range of human emotions. And, all of them are beaten out by Jude Law, who manages to turn a bit-character into the most memorable one in the film. Like last year's 'A Beautiful Mind,' 'Road to Perdition' smacks of Oscar grooming. With top-notch directors like Mendes, cinematographers like Conrad Hall, and actors like Hanks and Newman, it's hard to go wrong, but like that chocolate bunny, there just isn't anything underneath the exoskeleton. Whether it's because the plot was thin (there are repeated ideas of 'family,' but 'The Godfather' blew 'RTP' out of the water on that count) or a poor script for the main actors, the film ultimately sinks under its own weight. Add to that a heavy-handed voiceover at the end telling you exactly how to feel (unlike the appropriately ambiguous one in 'American Beauty,') and you've got a movie for the masses and the Academy, but thinking filmgoers looking for that solid chocolate will have to look somewhere else. 'Road to Perdition' is beautiful and tasty, but it's all fluff and style with zero in the substance department. Final Grade: D
Rating:
Summary: A movie that speaks to your soul and conscience.
Review: If a movie can make you think, if it can make you rethink anything about yourself or how you feel. It's made an affect on you, therefore it is moving; it is powerful, and you can't deny it. You've felt it and experienced it. If a movie can make you feel, if it can make you physically express that emotional in which it brings out in you, it is moving; it is powerful. You will probably never forget how its made you feel. But if a movie can do both, it's more than just some flick you caught in the theatre or rented or even one that you've bought. It's a part of you and it is undeniable. Only a few movies you will ever see in your life will do this to you...if any. But Road to Perdition has managed to affect me in both ways. This is a movie about the life of gangsters, in a way, but what this movie really is about is the relationship between fathers and sons. Blood or no blood, it's the bond the two men have together. That's what this movie is all about. I'm not going to tell you anything about it, I feel that it's up to the people who watch it to let the plot and meaning unravel for yourself and let your feelings and thoughts do the rest. But I will say that all the actors, Tom Hanks and Paul Newman especially, did an excellent job. The story is amazing, the directing is topnotch, the cinematography is wonderful. This movie has the ability to question parts of you that you're afraid to, but also soothes the parts of you that can feel empty or scared. Road to Perdition can't really be called a movie. It's actually an adventure; a trip to a certain part of you that only you can decipher the true meaning. Go see the movie and understand what I'm trying to convey. I highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: excellent character study
Review: After having made a career out of playing every kind of good guy character imaginable, Tom Hanks finally gets to strut his stuff as a bad guy - of sorts - in "The Road to Perdition," Sam Mendes' excellent follow-up to his Oscar-winning "American Beauty" from 1999. Of course, no one is ever going to believe Hanks as a TOTAL villain and this fact works perfectly for the role he has been called upon to play here - that of Michael Sullivan, a family man with two young boys who also happens to work as a hit man for crime boss John Rooney, an aging father figure who raised Michael as one of his own. Sullivan's children, Michael Jr. and Peter, are in the dark as to just what it is their father does for a living, but when the older boy, Michael, witnesses one of his dad's on-the-job hits one night, he ends up putting both his and his father's lives at risk. Suddenly, the two become fugitives, trying to stay one step ahead of the mob while Michael Sr. works on exacting revenge from Rooney's son, Connor, who both tried to have both Michaels rubbed out and succeeded in killing Michael's wife and younger son in the process. "The Road to Perdition" deserves immense praise for featuring a less-than-savory figure as its central character. Apart from the Hanks persona, which confers a certain automatic likeability factor onto this gangster protagonist, the film also builds the case in Michael's favor by having him be so much better than anyone else around him. With the exception of the crime boss himself, Michael is the only one of the killers who seems to have even an iota of redeeming value to his character. However, the film does not flinch from showing us the brutal harshness of the life fate has chosen for Michael, nor does it absolve Michael of the guilt he obviously must accept for the actions he performs. Unlike many films, "The Road to Perdition" does not shy away from acknowledging the ... complexities of the character with which it is asking us to identify. Our identification is, however, instantaneous with Michael Jr. who witnesses all this first hand and who, as events unfold, comes to understand a little something about the universal nature of father/son relationships, about the teaching and learning that takes place in the course of filial bonding, about a father's hope for a better life for his son, and about a father's instinctive need to fight for and protect his own flesh and blood even at the risk of his own life. And Michael Sr. learns a thing or two as well about what fatherhood is really all about. Ironically, these truths are also reflected to a certain extent in the chilling relationship between John and his own ruthless son, Connor. These two relationships provide some intriguing parallels and contrasts which help to enrich the overall theme of the work. Despite the fact that the film focuses on the growing relationship between a father and a son, Mendes never allows sentiment to take over. The few scenes charting the growing bond between the two Michaels are kept low-keyed and subtle and the movie erupts frequently into shocking displays of graphic violence. One scene, in particular, in which the older Michael is ambushed in a hotel room, is extraordinarily suspenseful, executed with assured, split-second timing by director Mendes and editor, Jill Bilcock. Mendes shows himself to be a master of the subtle moment as well, since the other great scene in the film involves a late night chat between father and son, a near-wordless encounter that underlines the growing love and respect that father and son are developing for one another. The quiet, hushed tone of the scene provides an effective counterpoint to all the rat-a-tat-tat moments that might otherwise have come to dominate the proceedings. The performances could not be improved upon. Hanks manages to be both stolid and emotionally vulnerable as the father who realizes that, although it may be too late to keep himself from going to "perdition," it is not too late to keep his son from making the same mistake. Newman creates a stunning portrait of an old man who can seemingly operate on two contradictory levels at the same time: one as a man capable of immense warmth and filial devotion to those he cares for and the other as a man ruthless enough to maintain his grasp on the life he's made and the position of power he's attained at any and all costs. Jude Law achieves a perfect creepiness as the steely-eyed, sadistic and psychotic hit man sent out to dispatch both Michael and his son. But the real acting honors go to young Tyler Hoechlin who manages to upstage even these seasoned professionals as Michael Jr., conveying in his every move, gesture and facial expression the innate innocence, warmth and intelligence of this 12-year old boy. Hoechlin understands the quiet power that can be achieved through a look and a glance. Wisely, the film's writer, David Self, makes young Michael an almost completely reticent character. Most of the learning and recognition that comes to Michael over the course of the film is reflected not in his words but in his face. As a result, little Michael is a character who lingers long in one's memory, for he ends up making an indelible mark on one's heart. Mendes does an exquisite job capturing the bleak nature of the film's early-'30's setting, although one could probably do without some of the rather improbable Bonnie and Clyde parallels that the story unfortunately wanders into. Still, that is a minor complaint about a film that works on so many different levels simultaneously. Beautifully crafted and brilliantly acted, "The Road to Perdition" is a quietly powerful film that draws us into its world in a most interesting and persuasive way.
Rating:
Summary: Road to Oscar
Review: Wow. If you have been lucky enough to witness this beautiful, breathtaking and intoxicating journey then you know what I am talking about. "Road to Perdition" may be the vehicle that gets Tom Hanks (in my opinion the best damned American actor of the past 15 years) out of his 'nice guy' role, but it should most definitely rope him an Oscar for Best Actor. I know that its early, but it will surely be hard to beat this performance.
I read that Hanks had wished director Sam Mendes had offered him the part of Lester Burnham in "American Beauty." That role went to Kevin Spacey, who became the embodiment of that character, much the same way that Hanks defines mob hitman Mike Sullivan in this film.
The film, as you most certainly already know, details the story of Sullivan and his son attempting to seek revenge for the murders of Sullivan's wife and youngest son. The kicker is that the mob boss that Sullivan works for, played by Paul Newman, is fatefully intertwined with the whole mess, as it was Newman's son Connor who kills Sullivan's wife and child. And then the whole "you killed my wife and kid, now I kill you" routine kicks in. But the ironic part is....there is nothing routine about this film.
There are moments that will stay with you long after the film has passed. For instance, Hanks and Newman playing a duet together on a piano, the insane look in Hanks' eyes when he says a prayer in a church, and the gut-wrenching and horribly tragic finale. Even the melancholy and maddingly sorrowful film score will stick deep inside of you, as composer Thomas Newman did an absolutely wonderful job of capturing the essence of the story in his music.
I can't tell you to go and see this film. I would like it if you took the time to see it because you actually wanted to. I was not disappointed in Sam Mendes' gorgeous revenge/ganster timepiece that almost borders on film noir territory. The moral dilemmas of Mike & his son are quite evident, and the killing in the film all has a feeling of necessity to it, there are no scenes of gratuitous killing, every death has a purpose.
All in all, this has to rank with "Gladiator" and "L.A. Confidential" as one of the best films to be produced in the last 5 years. Heartwarming, gut-wrenching, bloody, violent, emotional and unforgettable are all words you could use to describe this masterpiece. I myself can not find a word to describe how this film affected me and how well it was produced. I simply say this, if this film does not win Oscars for Best Actor (Hanks), Best Director (Mendes)and Best Film, I will never watch the Oscars again. "Road to Perdition," a film that only comes along once a lifetime...please don't miss out. See why Tom Hanks took the role for yourself.
Rating: 
Summary: Less than the Sum of its Parts
Review: "Road to Perdition" starts with a bang, but ends with, if not a whimper, at least a guffaw. The beautiful, atmospheric opening introduces us to a set of the most interesting relationships presented by a filmmaker in the past several years. (The touching relationship between mob boss Newman, and Hanks, his surrogate son, infuses the film with an emotional resonance that few recent movies can match.) The plot commences with an excellent "MacGuffin"- the murder of Hank's wife and child- that seems to portend a melding of great characters, great acting, and great storytelling. We only get the first two. The narrative loses its focus after father and son hit the road. The hired killer, played by Jude Law, is no more than a cartoon, and the final confrontation between Newman and Hanks owes more to Hollywood than Chicago. I won't spoil anyone's fun by describing the final sequence. Suffice to say that it is wildly improbable and melodramatic. It even betrays some specific character information carefully illustrated earlier in the film. One note: A Die-hard trivia buff's enjoyment may be tempered by one egregious historical error. The Lone Ranger novel read by Michael Sullivan, Jr. did not exist in 1931. The character was not even created until 1933, and would not be known outside of the Detroit area for years after that.
Rating:
Summary: Well done!!
Review: The Road to Perdition was a somber and very silent trip through murder, family reconciliation and a young man's self-discovery. The minimal dialogue made the audience pay close attention to the interactions between characters. Every movement had emotion and every pause was pregnant with meaning. Through many of the scenes I felt like I was in the room - an eyewitness in the background. All sense of time was lost to me, until the final credits began to roll. Total immersion is truly the mark of a good movie. The actors were completely in character - the scenes felt and looked real. Every participant of this film deserves recognition and praise. Tyler Hoechlin (Mike Sullivan, Jr.) has a brilliant career ahead. Road to Perdition is very worthy of the highest score available.
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