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34
10,000 B.C. Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
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4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies. |
Road to Perdition
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MPAA RATING: R for violence and language
Starring Tom Hanks, Tyler Hoechlin, Paul Newman, Jude Law, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Stanley Tucci, Liam Aiken, and Dylan Baker
A portrayal of two families whose fates are determined by the complex and often combative relationships between fathers and their sons. (DreamWorks Pictures)
| GENRE(S): | Drama |
| WRITTEN BY: |
David Self
Max Allan Collins (graphic novel) Richard Piers Rayner (graphic novel) |
| DIRECTED BY: | Sam Mendes |
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: February 25, 2003 Video: February 25, 2003 Theatrical: July 12, 2002 |
| RUNNING TIME: | 119 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: | USA |
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
The average user rating for this movie is 7.1 (out of 10) based on 62 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Jean C. gave it a9:
A brilliant film, actors are very good. A very simple movie, but very stylised also. It's realy a great film.
F K gave it a10:
Oustanding.
Marshall M. gave it a10:
Amazing, it was nominated for 7 academy awards. but it was missing from the most important category, BEST PICTURE! it was strongly underrated, this is one of the best gangter films i've seen, great acting, perfect cinematography, a masterpeice!
Bill C. gave it a3:
This film should have been better and it could have been.The Jude Law charactor is a waste,the screen writer should have stayed closer to the novel.Hanks and Newman were both up to the task and their talents were largely wasted.Read the novel,it's a much better story. It's a good example of someone pushing the art of film making while botching the story within the film.Bill C.
Michael M. gave it a 10:
[***PLOT REVELATIONS***] One of the best gangster films ever made; it has all the best qualities to a movie = great writing, direction and a cast that will blow you away! I cannot stress on how much of an outstanding movie this is. It is just so great! It is a great movie about organized crime, and the kill scenes are nicely directed. The story is about a very talented hitman called 'The Angel of Death' (Tom Hanks) who was adopted by a mean old crime boss John Rooney (Paul Newman - In his Academy Award nominated performance) at a very young age. Since John treats Michael Sullivan (Tom Hanks - a.k.a. The Angel of Death) as his favorite son, John's real son Connor Rooney (Daniel Craig) gets very jealous and tries to have some business man secretly (without his father's consent) kill Michael. Well, that doesn't go as well as planned, and Michael ends up killing the business man and some of his associates. But, Michael's family isn't so lucky, when Connor himself kills Michael's wife (Jennifer Jason Leigh) and youngest son, leaving Michael only with his oldest son, Michael Sullivan, Jr. Since John must kill Michael in order for him to protect Connor, Michael and his son hit the road to Chicago to hide out. In Chicago, John has everyone looking for Michael including Frank Nitti, Al Capeone and a warped hitman named Maguire (Jude Law) who poses as a reporter, takes pictures of his victims, and wears a 'Charlie Chaplin'/'Malcolm McDowell in Clockwork Orange' hat. The movie really moves along quickly and isn't slow at all. The story is really interesting, but the movie only got 1 major Academy Award Nomination. It should have been nominated for Best Picture, Best Actor - Tom Hanks and Best Director - Sam Mendes, instead of just Paul Newman getting nominated. This film is all around excellence, but isn't as good as Mendes' first feature 'American Beauty'. 22 February 2003.
Pat C. gave it a 4:
It's a cautionary tale: If you're naughty, you might live a boring pointless life then get shot. But not soon enough.
Dave C. gave it a 6:
This film is flawlessly acted but suffers from an occasionally flawed script, lack of emotional involvment with the characters, gimmicky camera work. To be honest, I even disagree with the people who said this film was beautifully shot. The fact that this was digitally shot makes it look somewhat ugly and unconvincing. There are no really powerful images in the film. Never did I feel any empathy for the father and son, never did I feel that the film was trying to teach me a valuable lesson. At the end of the day, this film never seems to strive for anything more than a pseudo-moral lesson that is less inspiring than some episodes of Power Rangers. "Violence and guns are bad, don't let your kids get dragged into it". Thanks for that. But for a film so seemingly determined to be politically correct and wholesome in its purpose, it sure is quick to show stereotypical portrayals of women and homosexuals. Make no mistake. This film was made with one thing in mind, WIN AN OSCAR, and to its credit, it does have some of the hallmarks of an oscar winner, none of the performances are second rate, the story is well constructed and often uses visual narrative in a very clever manner, the editing not overdone and the film never descends into soppy sentimentality until the cringe-inducing closing narrative. So if you want my advice, don't listen to the critics, this is no masterpiece or cinematic triumph by any stretch of the imagination. On technical terms, it's brilliant (if you're not like me and you don't mind digital filming) and at times is interesting as a gangster film with an unusually atmospheric tone but is otherwise an unfortunate example of the soullessness of Hollywood.
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