Tom Hanks - Bachelor Party / Big / The Man With One Red Shoe / The Road To Perdition / That Thing You Do (Box Set)

Advantages: Entertaining
Disadvantages: Predictable

...Road to Perdition, promoted as one of the years blockbusters, does not explore any new themes, instead it combines some of the most generic themes explored by directors and script writers, including; father/son relationship, personal redemption and greed. Altogether the movie achieves it main purpose; entertaining, partly insightful and yet predictable. Would the movie had been so heavily promoted and achieved the box office success without Tom Hanks? Probably not. Tom Hanks performance is powerful but a bit dry. Jude Laws performance although limited was key to develop the storyline, build the tension and deliver the movies climax. In my opinion the performance of Paul Newman, and Tom Hanks son are very strong and raise the value of the movie. The long road trip, Tom Hanks and his son embark on to reach Chicago, shifts the focus... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful

Advantages: Powerful performances
Disadvantages: Slightly lacking pace

...I can’t remember how many times I’ve been to the cinema or watched DVDs since I wrote about Moulin Rouge, and there’s no special significance in the fact that I’ve chosen to write about The Road To Perdition. It’s just that I’ve been reminded that I haven’t written for pleasure for quite a while. This film constitutes director, Sam Mendes’ next big break into US films, his first being the soar-away success, American Beauty which I really loved, although if I’m honest, anything with Kevin Spacey in it is “OK” by me, and that’s a slight understatement! Top billing goes to Tom Hanks, Paul Newman and Jude Law. Set in 1931, Newman plays an Irish mob-boss (I presumed in Boston, as Chicago and New York would probably have been the “turf” of the Italians – I don’t remember actually picking up on where it was strangely enough – put me right... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Great story and direction
Disadvantages: Slightly predictable and maybe a bit too long

...Road to Perdition is one of the first gangster films I've seen at the cinema, although recently I've been watching many older ones as my love for this kind of film has been ignited! The film centres around a loyal, longstanding mafia type (Tom Hanks) who's son compromises his position, and they go on the run. Acting is very good, the settings are superb (you really feel the 1930's setting - very authentic!) and there is a lot of style used in the action sequences (no over the top gore, but lots of suggestive imagery). All the characters are very well portrayed in their stereotype Mafioso way, and the film left me feeling satisfied and pleased that I had spent my hard-earned cash to see it!... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful