Save 73% Off: Road to Perdition (Full Screen Edition) (2002) Review & Ratings

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Are you looking to buy Road to Perdition (Full Screen Edition) (2002)? Here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on Road to Perdition (Full Screen Edition) (2002). Check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers

Road to Perdition (Full Screen Edition) (2002) Review

This suspense-filled story of hitman Michael Sullivan, directed by Sam Mendes, has as much style and cinematic brilliance as his American Beauty, though it is much darker. Sullivan (Tom Hanks), the adoptive son of John Rooney (Paul Newman), is a cold-blooded killer working for his crime boss "father" in the winter of 1931, when his own twelve-year-old son, Mike Jr., inadvertently witnesses a "hit" in which his father participates.
Subsequently, the Sullivans, father and son, take off for Chicago to meet with Frank Nitti (Stanley Tucci), underworld lieutenant to Al Capone. Mike Sullivan, Sr. is also hoping to get to Perdition, an appropriately named Midwestern town, so he can leave is son with his sister-in-law. Sadistic hitman Harlan Maguire (Jude Law), who enjoys photographing the death throes of his victims, is soon on the Sullivans' trail to through the midwest.
Conrad L. Hall, to whom the film is dedicated, uses photography to its fullest advantage winning a posthumous Academy Award for his cinematography. Shot in winter, the film preserves the flavor of early black and white films, with sharp contrasts, and the use of dark, somber colors, when colors are used at all. Snow, ice, rain, and fog perpetuate the cold darkness of the scenes, and Hall's use of architectural framing is stunning, particularly his repeated use of windows. He keeps the scenes simple, often focusing on individual characters in contexts which reveal their emotional states. In one memorable scene, for example, light from a streetlight outside a window casts the shadow of rain on an interior wall, suggesting both tears and cleansing.
Newman is terrific as an aging mob boss, playing his part with just the right mix of frailty and cruelty (for which he was nominated for an Academy Award). Tyler Hoechlin, as 12-year-old Mike, Jr., reveals his fears and vulnerabilities at the same time that he shows his satisfaction as the center of his father's attention (winning Best Young Actor from the Broadcast Film Critics Association). Jude Law, made up to look like a true, wild-eyed psychopath, is terrifying. Hanks looks menacing and acts viciously until his concern for his son overtakes all other emotions in a moving, climactic scene, though it is difficult to accept him in the role of a hitman.
Period music adds style to the film, and original music by Thomas Newman (and the title song by John Williams), mostly piano and strings, preserves the period tone. Filled with the horror of violence and considerable suspense, this noir film gives a human face to mob violence in the thirties. Mary Whipple

Road to Perdition (Full Screen Edition) (2002) Overview

Movie DVD

Want to learn more information about Road to Perdition (Full Screen Edition) (2002)?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now