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Road to Perdition Movie Review

Road to Perdition is a 2002 crime film directed by Sam Mendes and starring Tom Hanks, Jude Law, Paul Newman and Daniel Craig. It’s such a good genre film.

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“I’m glad it’s you“

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Set in 1931, it follows a mob enforcer and his son as they seek vengeance against a man who murdered the rest of their family. I am not a fan of crime films, so I ultimately cherish every crime movie that I actually end up liking, and this is a gangster movie no less. But even I had to like this one as it’s emotional and wonderfully made across the board.

I did not care for the first half of the movie all that much. It was too dreary, simply way too slow and not particularly engaging. But the second half is where the movie became emotionally potent with the theme of father and sons, and how important it is to have a good role model being so well explored. The ending is problematic in terms of logic (why would he keep Harlen alive, that was stupid honestly), but it was still absolutely heartbreaking and beautiful. That last line almost made me cry.

The movie features a terrific ensemble cast. Tom Hanks is an odd choice to play a mob man, but because he has a good heart beneath, it suited him. He’s great throughout, and the father-son relationship drives this film as it’s so moving. I also found Paul Newman terrific in this superb late role for him. The scenes between him and Sullivan were also all wonderful. Daniel Craig in a pre-Bond role is pretty good, though his character is a bit one-note. I preferred Jude Law. He was so well cast as this imposing villain. Never has he been this dangerous.

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Road to Perdition has rain as a symbol of impending death. I liked its cinematography a lot, but it was definitely overly accentuated to the point of becoming excessive. The whole film tries to imitate noirish atmosphere, but only to a certain degree of success. But I appreciated Sam Mendes’s reliably strong direction, a great chose of sparingly used dialogue and strong themes. I just wish it had fewer plot holes and that the first half was more interesting.

Though quite inferior in its less interesting first half, Road to Perdition becomes terrific in the very moving second half. The ending is heartbreaking, its themes are well explored and the movie features a great ensemble cast with Jude Law, Tom Hanks and Paul Newman being the standouts.