Road to Perdition

The best film of Sam Mendes and an absolute top in the gangster genre. The atypical casting of Hanks as a dark hero is an ideal counterpart to Newman's tragic boss, and his journey, fearlessly mowing down enemies led by perfectly slimy Law, is additionally captured by an amazing camera (see the unforgettable arrival in Chicago) and supported by impressive music. An underrated film. (20/12/2005)

Or: How Even the Most Direct Road to Perdition Can Lead to Movie Perfection. A visually indescribably atmospheric watch. Precise acting, perfect camerawork and faultless and inventive directing. Sam Mendes filmed so far the most faithful adaptation of a comic book to come to the movie screen so far. Although the storyline is simple, that’s where its strength lies. It could be criticized for being a wonderful shiny load of nothing about father and son finding a way to each other, but that’s not the feeling I get from this. Quite the contrary, for one thing, the scene in the rain is now in my top ten best scenes ever. It just has everything. From emotions, through marvelous production design, immense atmosphere to the actors. And the entire movie is like that, just perhaps not so intense all the while. And that’s pretty good, don’t you think? (04/02/2007)

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% (02/06/2012)

This is comic book taking another beating. But I don't want to start with the negatives: Road to Perdition is an excellently shot film with Newman's successful music, which appropriately supports the melancholic cinematography, and which, when added together, makes for a truly dense atmosphere. Sam Mendes has traditionally been able to nicely handle conversation and action scenes (the shootout in the room is something else - I'm looking forward to Skyfall), and the actors who have come together here are all excellent and do a really good job (I even took seriously the gangster played by Tom) and... And that's where the pros end. The biggest downside is... You guessed right... The script. I wonder why filmmakers keep doing this, but even this time they only took certain things from the comics (the opening 30 minutes or so and the bank robbery), twisted or threw away the rest and added their own ideas. And what ideas those were! Like the killer Maguire - sorry Jude, he's brilliantly acted, really, but completely unnecessary. Or the farmer and his wife, the stay with them and the silly epilogue that goes with it. Bleh. And so on. It’s too bad, because such a solid gangster atmosphere shouldn't be wasted. I give three and a half stars to this. (22/02/2011)

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%. (14/06/2006)