Road to Perdition

Movie Title: Road to Perdition
Official Website (it might still work): Road to Perdition
Rating (out of 10): 8
Reviewed By: Michael Stevens
Buy the: Video/DVD \| Soundtrack
The Review:

With Tom Hanks and the director of American Beauty, Sam Mendes, teaming up, one would expect Road to Perdition to be a great film. Well, as Hertz has said for some time, not exactly. Now, Road to Perdition is a really good film, just not of the caliber of a great film.

Hanks (Cast Away) portrays mob enforcer Michael “The Angel of Death” Sullivan, a regular guy raising a family with a wife Annie (Jennifer Jason Leigh) and two kids somewhere in Jersey. The youngest son, Peter (Liam Aiken), is a good & smart lad, while the oldest, Michael, Jr. (Tyler Hoechlin), is a bit of a trouble maker (takes after his father). One day Michael, Jr. sneaks a ride to work with his father. This isn’t a good thing, since as I stated earlier his dad works for the mob, or more specifically John Rooney (Paul Newman, Message in a Bottle). While at work that night Michael, Sr. has to make Swiss cheese out of a handful of people to protect Rooney’s only son Connor (Daniel Craig, Tomb Raider), all while Michael, Jr. watches from a hole in the wall. Michael and Connor discover the snooper, which puts the Sullivan family in danger. This is mainly because Connor is stealing from his own father and then leaving dead bodies to cover his tracks. Soon Peter and Annie are killed by Connor, causing Michael to go on the warpath of revenge, but only against Connor and with complete disregard for his own life. However, he must first keep Michael, Jr. safe from Connor, and keep both of them out of the way of hired hit man Harlen Maguire (Jude Law, Artificial Intelligence), who was hired by the Chicago syndicate to protect their own interests (Michael thought it would be a good idea to rob mob money from banks). Along the way between revenge and the supposed safety on the road to Perdition (a town where Michael’s sister-in-law lives) the two Michaels have a bit of adventure with their bank robbing business and meet a nice downtrodden farming couple with no children of their own. Will everything workout? Just watch Mendes last film for the answer.

The film is based on a novel of the same name written by Max Allan Collins, Robert Lappan, and Richard Rayner. A few others in the film are Stanley Tucci, Kevin Chamberlin, Ciaran Hinds, Duane Sharp, Diane Dorsey, Peggy Roeder, David Darlow, and Gene Janson.

Newman, Law, and Hanks (not a law firm) are good in this picture, and Sam Mendes does another great job with the feel to the film (generally dark). The downsides are that things are too predictable. American Beauty surprised, if not shocked you, Road to Perdition does not, and that is why it fails to become a great film. In the end, eight couches.