*** Official "ROAD TO PERDITION" Review Thread (1 Viewer)

[Sheldon C]

I agree with Jan... I wanted to like this movie so much more than I did. It's not a bad movie and definitely worth seeing, but something that I can't put my finger on wasn't right about it. I guess I just couldn't make myself care about the characters even though I was trying like hell to do so. Why this is true I can't explain...

 

[David Ely]

:star: :star: :star: :star: :star: / :star: :star: :star: :star: :star:
I won't write a review as my thoughts of the film have been echoed in many of the above posts.

The movie's main downfall was its predictability

A friend of mine said the same thing. I will tell you what I told her.
Road to Perdition is not a movie about what will happen next. It's about the relationship between fathers and sons. What's important is the emotions and actions that are involved in their relationship.

 

[Rob P S]

**** out of ****
10/10
A++++++

The best movie of the year, and one of the best ever.

 

[Ches Campbell]

This is definately my favorite of 2002. I just plain loved this movie. The musical score is one of the best I have heard. Top notch acting. Great directing. Awesome story. What more could you want. Definately the saddest movie of the year, but definetly a great movie.
About its predictability, to me it wasn't predictable until right before the predictable part happened. Also, the way that the ending was filmed :with hanks standing in the window and you see his sone wave, then run to the house
made it not so bad.
My favorite scene: When hanks shoots all of the bodyguards, then slowly walks up to Newman, hesitates, then shoots, all being silent except for background music
I was just in awe at this scene for some reason.
**** outta 4
[

 

[Dan Brecher]

In having been a film I had waited what seemed like an eternity for, I leapt at the chance last week to be able to attend a special screening of Road to Perdition in London this morning (it does not open in the UK until September).
It's interesting to me... In my mind, I've frequently found many of the best of films to be those simple at heart but extremely well executed in their telling, and Road to Perdition makes for one such film.
Based on the graphic novel of the same title, there's little of originality here to be sure, but we are graced with finely crafted characters and an appealing story that shapes the tale of the bond between father and son against the backdrop of one of the most dark and seedy of times. A complaint, if forced to make any, would be that we are sadly only given around 2hrs with these characters and this world. So appealing did I find it all, I just wanted more, but that greater sense of distance between viewer and character (in Hanks' case of Michael Snr especially) works for the telling of the story. We enter their lives as Michael Jnr himself is distanced from his father, and we are treated no different.
On a technical level, the film delivered too. Mendes is a fine director who knows how far is too far and his influences of the films he grew up loving are clearly visible here within his own work. I could not be rid of the sense that one knows this is really the kind of story Mendes loves as he pours much passion into the telling of the tale.
Many key technical players from American Beauty are carried over here, most notably Conrad Hall and Thomas Newman. Hall's cinematography (Panavision, 2.40:1) is just wonderful and there are some beautiful and truyl memorable shots to behold in the film. The whole thing looks who you'd want it to look.
A good while back now I offered up a review of the score CD release over in the Music forum here on the HTF. I'm a big Thomas Newman fan, and his work for Perdition works within the film as gloriously as it does in its own right. Moody, brooding and moving, Newman shows off his diverse talents in shaping scenes musically to specific moods, and he does so without ever seeming intrusive.
A special nod must go to the sound effects editing. The overall sound mix for the film is the kind I like, it's realistic, dialogue is solid, and sound effects are never over the top. Far from it, in Perdition gunshots are not toned down by any means, their sound is intrusive, real and distrubing. The first off screen blast of the tommy gun, you feel it, it hits you right in the chest whilst handgun use throughout the picture is harsh leaving a ringing in the ear. Many are shot dead in the film, cold murders routine for the killers. The kills are instant and harsh, and the sound design does not let us forget this.
Overall, there is little else I can add. Road to Perdition marks the coming together of many great talents both in cast and crew. A film that does not rely on gimmick or special effect, it makes for a beautiful telling of what is, at the end of the day, a very simple story. I'm always left wanting more films like this. More please, Mr Mendes... more please.
:star: :star: :star: :star: /:star: :star: :star: :star:
Dan

 

[ArmandV]

Road To Perdition (to me anyway) was a :star: :star: :star: movie. Although Hanks did okay, I still felt he was miscast in this role. He was a lot more convincing in the the films he won the oscars for. He seems to have too much of a baby face to be a convincing tough guy and the mustache didn't help. I agree that Paul Newman and Jude Law were superb.
Since this was supposed to be in the 1930s, I did find some errors. I noticed some present-day light standards and a building obviously from the last 20 years during the trek into Chicago.
The ending, unfortunately, was too predictable. Still, the film was a nice diversion.