Road to Perdition

The best film Sam Mendes ever made and the absolute best in the gangster genre. The atypical casting of Tom Hanks as a dark hero is an ideal counterpart to Paul Newman's tragic boss, and his journey, fearlessly mowing down enemies led by the perfectly slimy Jude Law, is also captured with amazing cinematography (see the unforgettable arrival in Chicago) and supported by impressive music. An underrated film. (19/12/2005)

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. (05/02/2010)

I thought my taste was only oriented towards horror and Asia, this film confirms that my favorite subgenre is also gritty gangster films. Once again, an excellent cast, I've never had my fingers crossed for Tom Hanks like I did here, and as soon as the psychopathic Jude Law appears on the scene you wish him the worst from the first second. I definitely have to highlight the amazingly dark retro style, the intelligent story and the awesome soundtrack, even a tear dropped towards the end. Everything is actually flawless, nothing can be faulted. (26/11/2014)

This film is packed with big names, from the excellent Tom Hanks to Daniel Craig, and the result is a decent retro gangster flick that has a great and quite dense atmosphere in places. What holds me back a bit from a four-star rating, though, is that there is relatively little action for those two hours, the finale is not very intense, and most of the film is a drama that tends to just lean on the gangster genre and actually focuses more on talking. Still, it doesn't change the fact that Sam Mendes and his signature are evident, the filmmaking quality is not lacking and overall the film is very ambitious for its time, it's not unnecessarily demanding and it's "viewer friendly", but I was expecting something a little different. (17/05/2022)

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% (01/06/2012)