Rating: R
Genre:
Crime
Theatrical Release: 07/12/2002(USA)
Release Date: 02/25/2003
SubTitles: French/Espanol
Dubbed: English/French/Espanol
Sound: DD5.1/DS/DTS
Run Time: 117 Minutes
Flags: Violence, Adult Language
Distributor/Studio: DreamWorks
The acclaimed graphic novel from crime writer
Max Allan Collins becomes this big budget
Dreamworks drama from director
Sam Mendes and screenwriter
David Self.
Tom Hanks stars as
Michael Sullivan, a morally conflicted Depression-era hit man committing murder in the name of his employer,
John Rooney (
Paul Newman). A kindly, aging Irish crime boss who raised
Sullivan as his surrogate son,
Rooney is affiliated with
Al Capone in Chicago and thus wields great power in the "Tri-Cities" of Moline, IL; Rock Island, IL; and Davenport, IA. Curious about his father's mysterious profession,
Sullivan's son,
Michael Jr. (
Tyler Hoechlin), stows away in his father's automobile one night and witnesses the execution of a man at the hands of
Sullivan and
Rooney's biological son,
Connor (
Daniel Craig). Although
Michael keeps his promise to remain silent about what he's seen, the paranoid and unstable
Connor tries to wipe out the entire
Sullivan clan anyway, succeeding only in killing
Sullivan's wife,
Annie (
Jennifer Jason Leigh), and youngest son,
Peter (
Liam Aiken). Enraged at this and another surprise betrayal by the
Rooneys,
Sullivan embarks on a path of bloody retribution,
Michael in tow. Although he intends to leave his boy with relatives in the rural town of Perdition once the coast is clear, he ends up exposing
Michael to the goriest aspects of his talents, slaughtering former associates as he dodges contract assassin
Maguire (
Jude Law) and cripples the cash flow of the
Rooney and
Capone organizations through a series of bank robberies, attempting to force either mob family to offer up the sequestered
Connor as a sacrifice. Inspired by the popular Japanese comic book series
Lone Wolf and Cub and based loosely on an episode from the life and career of notorious real-life crime figures
John and
Connor Looney,
Road to Perdition co-stars
Stanley Tucci as legendary Chicago mobster
Frank Nitti.
~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
;)
