Road to Perdition

Excellent, but missing something for a full rating, even if it fulfils almost everything I expected. First of all, superb actors, a precise atmosphere full of revenge and grief, and a lot of very well shot shootouts. Moreover, Sam Mendes is truly unique and his subtle and precise signature literally radiates from every shot. What disappointed me a bit was the poorly built-up finale and also, and I can't help it, the somewhat faintly outlined relationship between the killer-father and his young son, which should be the main driving force. Otherwise, though, Mendes has once again shown to be a brilliant director, and his Road to Perdition is a bleak and thrilling spectacle unparalleled in recent years. 85% (06/02/2012)

Consumed with sentiment, pathos, and seriousness until my monitor cracked. Mendes is still the devil, yes. Scenes like the final showdown are absolutely fabulous. I didn't mind the Hanks stuff either. However, overall, I don't like the combination of a gangster movie with a tragic drama about discovering a relationship with your son. As long as it stays within the confines of a mafia movie, it's a fantasy. However, once the film moves into the "I had a nightmare" "Do you want to talk about it?" stages, it's bad. Because that sentiment is a little bit tacky in this movie. (02/06/2010)

Road to Perdition is a very nice film with excellent acting and cinematography. But that’s where the praise ends. In order for it to be a gangster flick on the level of Coppola’s The Godfather, it would have had to focus more attention on the relationship between Paul Newman and Tom Hanks. And no humor should have intruded on the gloomy atmosphere. As it is, it’s more like Eastwood’s A Perfect World, scented with the perfume of American Beauty and ending with an overwrought climax. And the formulaic nature of the plot doesn’t do it any favours either. The phrase “he was my father” was on the tip of my tongue before young Sullivan even said it. (11/14/2002)

Based on the successful comic book series by Max Allan Collins. With his film American Beauty, Sam Mendes raised expectations among critics and fans to such a level that he couldn't meet them, no matter how hard he tried. From my perspective, after careful consideration, I prefer Road to Perdition. Sure, in terms of choosing the subject matter, it was an obvious safe bet, but there was also a calculation with American Beauty, albeit a more subtle one. Mendes's gangster film is a compact piece in every way, with perfect cinematography, a strong story, and charismatic characters. Comparing Road to Perdition with what I've seen in the past year, I have no choice but to increase my rating to five stars. Overall impression: 90%. (06/14/2006)

Thanks to Mendes, this atmospheric gangster movie is quite untraditional (for the genre, not for Sam) in terms of visuals and is more colorful than usual. Sort of unusually “beautiful", but still dark. Excellent acting and that revolting creature Jude Law got that trick with the coin down to a T. Road to Perdition has several extraordinary scenes, but Thompson in the rain is enough to give you a heart attack. (01/08/2012)