Road to Perdition (2002)
Directed by Sam Mendes
Mike Sullivan works as a hit man for crime boss John Rooney. Sullivan views Rooney as a father figure, however after his son is witness to a killing, Mike Sullivan finds himself on the run in attempt to save the life of his son and at the same time looking for revenge on those who wronged him.
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31 films that influenced Road to Perdition
What critics say influenced Road to Perdition
Between 1972 and 1974 two distinctly different cinematic sagas took hold of opposing ends of the Pacific: "The Godfather" and its sequel in Hollywood and the half-dozen "Lone Wolf and Cub" films in Japan, sometimes better known stateside by their 1980 abridgement, "Shogun Assassin."
July 11, 2002 - The television ads billing it as the greatest crime drama since The Godfather are slightly off the mark as it lacks any of the intimate familial aspects of Coppola¹s epic.
Road to Perdition has some serious muscle in its corner -- there are nearly a dozen Oscars among the main players -- leading rasher critics to make quick comparisons to The Godfather.
But then "Road to Perdition" is one of the few gangster dramas of the last 30 years to break free of the shadow of "The Godfather."
I won't lie, if you like The Godfather, this film is for you.
It's even more extraordinary that Hollywood is treating Road to Perdition like the second coming of The Godfather.
When you consider what Hall did for exceptional films such as, Searching For Bobby Fischer, Marathon Man, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, In Cold Blood, Cool Hand Luke, and American Beauty , you know that his work, when combined with the right material, can be mesmerizing.
When you consider what Hall did for exceptional films such as, Searching For Bobby Fischer, Marathon Man, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, In Cold Blood, Cool Hand Luke, and American Beauty , you know that his work, when combined with the right material, can be mesmerizing.
Better to rent Abel Ferrara's criminally underestimated The Funeral for a better treatment of the same themes in the same milieu, but if you do see Road to Perdition--and it's certainly worth watching for its performances and its visuals--see it on the biggest screen you can find.-Walter…
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But Tom has something else if you look at his early films, particularly Punchline or Philadelphia, there�s a lot of rage in there, and a lot of darkness, and it stands next to him.
The youngest person to receive an AFI Life Achievement Award, he looked a little awkward balancing Bosom Buddies and Bachelor Party with his sanctimonious do-gooder roles in Apollo 13, Philadelphia, and Forrest Gump, not to mention the Greatest Generation idolatry of Saving Private Ryan.
Then there�s Saving Private Ryan, where he kills far more people for all the right reasons.
Saving Private Ryan , American Beauty , and Gladiator (remember that hand caressing the wheat stalks?) all introduce themselves with prologue shots or scenes, each inviting us to compare our first impression of a man with our concluding evaluations, after we have seen him endure war, torture, or at least suburban anomie.
Director Glenn Gordon Caron, for whom Hall shot Love Affair, identifies a melancholy in Hall that translated to his images, which was a real eureka moment for me in terms of pinpointing what Mendes's films have lacked in Hall's absence.
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Nothing, however, beats the joy of watching Paul Newman, no longer catatonic (though I would have loved to see Linda Fiorentino again; what the hell happened to her?), sink his teeth into his most substantial role since, I dunno, Nobody’s Fool?
He certainly wasn�t the person Sam Mendes, whose American Beauty was hardly a Hallmark greeting card for American family values, was looking for when he cast the movie.
Road to Perdition's been directed by Sam Mendes, whose American Beauty was an astonishingly capable and mature debut.
Neither a good Paul Newman nor a bad Tom Hanks can save this dreary art-house flick from the airless grip of "American Beauty" director Sam Mendes.
British director Sam Mendes swept through the Oscars in 1999 with "American Beauty," and "Perdition" further emphasizes that his memorable debut was no fluke.
Road to Perdition, Sam Mendes’ follow-up to American Beauty , is an almost indescribably beautiful movie, a living painting, every shot an elaborate composition of dark greens and browns.
Direction In only his second outing since his magnificent debut, Sam Mendes delivers a change-up pitch, trading the heat, energy and acid wit of his first and Oscar-winning film American Beauty for a more operatic, elegiac tone.