Road to Perdition

Ein sehr schöner Film mit ausgezeichneten Schauspielleistungen und einer hervorragenden Kamera. Das ist aber alles, was man loben kann. Wenn Road to Perdition mehr Aufmerksamkeit der Beziehung Paul Newman / Tom Hanks gewidmet hätte, hätte er ein Gangsterfilm auf dem Niveau von Coppolas Der Pate sein können. Und die düstere Atmosphäre dürfte kein Humor zerstören. So ist es eher eine Art Perfect World von Eastwood mit dem Duft von American Beauty und einem übertriebenen Höhepunkt. Und die schablonenhafte Handlung hat dem Film auch nicht geholfen. Den Satz "he was my father" hatte ich früher auf der Zunge als ihn der kleine Sullivan ausgesprochen hat. (13.11.2002)

Great and almost reaching the highest score. Excellent performances, captivating retro-comic book stylisation (the last scene, when the accounts are settled, made me drool in bliss) and also very nice music, as it’s usual with Mendes. I really liked Road to Perdition. (19.04.2009)

Or: How Even the Most Direct Road to Perdition Can Lead to Movie Perfection. A visually indescribably atmospheric watch. Precise acting, perfect camerawork and faultless and inventive directing. Sam Mendes filmed so far the most faithful adaptation of a comic book to come to the movie screen so far. Although the storyline is simple, that’s where its strength lies. It could be criticized for being a wonderful shiny load of nothing about father and son finding a way to each other, but that’s not the feeling I get from this. Quite the contrary, for one thing, the scene in the rain is now in my top ten best scenes ever. It just has everything. From emotions, through marvelous production design, immense atmosphere to the actors. And the entire movie is like that, just perhaps not so intense all the while. And that’s pretty good, don’t you think? (04.02.2007)

The best film of Sam Mendes and an absolute top in the gangster genre. The atypical casting of Hanks as a dark hero is an ideal counterpart to Newman's tragic boss, and his journey, fearlessly mowing down enemies led by perfectly slimy Law, is additionally captured by an amazing camera (see the unforgettable arrival in Chicago) and supported by impressive music. An underrated film. (19.12.2005)

Filmed based on the successful comic book series by Max Allan Collins. Sam Mendes aroused such expectations among critics and fans with his American Beauty that he would not be able to satisfy them no matter how hard he tried. From my perspective and after sober consideration, I prefer Road to Perdition. Clearly, in terms of material selection, it was an obvious bet on certainty, but with American Beauty, that calculation was also, albeit more sophisticated. Mendes' gangster film is a compact film in every aspect, with perfect camera work, a strong story, and charismatic characters. Comparing Road to Perdition to what I've seen in the past year, I have no choice but to raise my rating to five stars. Overall impression 90%. (14.06.2006)

Thanks to Mendes, this atmospheric gangster movie is quite untraditional (for the genre, not for Sam) in terms of visuals and is more colorful than usual. Sort of unusually “beautiful", but still dark. Excellent acting and that revolting creature Jude Law got that trick with the coin down to a T. Road to Perdition has several extraordinary scenes, but Thompson in the rain is enough to give you a heart attack. (07.01.2012)

Atmospheric, artsy and relatively cold. Or a gangster flick according to Professor Sam Mendes. (02.11.2003)

Wieder einmal hat ein Comic eins auf die Schnauze bekommen. Um aber nicht gleich negativ zu sein: Road to Perdition ist ein toll gedrehter Film mit Newmans gelungener Musik, welche die melancholische Kamera unterstützt. Das alles sorgt für eine dichte Stimmung. Sam Mendes kann traditionell gut mit Konversation- und Actionszenen spielen (die Schießerei im Zimmer hat es in sich – ich freue mich schon auf seinen Film James Bond 007 – Skyfall). Alle Schauspieler*innen, die sich hier getroffen haben, sind hervorragend und haben eine wirklich gute Arbeit geleistet (auch Tom fand ich in der Gangsterrolle glaubhaft) und… Das ist – was die positiven Aspekte betrifft – alles. Das größte Minus ist… Sie ahnen es schon… Das Drehbuch. Es würde mich interessieren, warum es die Filmemacher ständig tun. Auch hier haben sie aus dem Comic nur etwas übernommen (die ersten ungefähr 30 Minuten und die Banküberfälle). Den Rest haben sie entweder verzerrt dargestellt oder ganz weggelassen und durch eigene Ideen ergänzt. Was für Ideen! Zum Beispiel durch den Mörder Maguire – sorry Jude, du hast diese Figur großartig dargestellt, sie ist aber völlig überflüssig. Oder durch den Farmer und seine Frau, den Aufenthalt bei den beiden und den damit verbundenen dummen Epilog. Bäh. Und so weiter. Es ist schade, sehr schade, weil man so eine solide Gangster-Stimmung nicht verschwenden sollte. Dreieinhalb Sterne.__PS: In dem Comic, auf dem dieser Film basiert, gibt es solche Promis wie z. B. Al Capone oder Elliot Ness (in der Handlung spielen sie eine wichtige Rolle). Der Comic-Mike würde sich in einer Schießerei z. B. mit Bruce Willis gut verstehen (ganz zu schweigen davon, dass er den Film-Maguire sofort erledigen würde). Ich kann ihn allen empfehlen.__EIN SPOILER-PPS: Warum hat Sullivan Maguire nicht erschossen, als sein Gesicht voller Scherben war und als er sich auf dem Hotel-Fußboden vor Schmerzen gekrümmt hat? (21.02.2011)

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)

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)

Road to Perdition is another film with my favorite theme. As Lord Vetinari used to say, if we can't eradicate crime, at least make it organized. The film had a great atmosphere, Tom Hanks' performance was excellent as usual, Jude Law was as pleasant as a bucket of slime and Paul Newman gave as fine a performance as Tom Hanks, as expected. I have only two gripes. It was crystal clear how it was going to end. I’m also not sure how it was possible that after the bullet hit the window, blood splattered the glass, but the projectile somehow mysteriously disappeared. (21.07.2017)

I can't help it, but Tom Hanks just didn't fit in there for me. Or maybe I just thought that Hanks would be a bit rougher. But such a breaking of image, he probably couldn't afford it. That Sam Mendes would make a good movie, that's quite clear, what surprises me more is that it's possible according to the comic book written by Max Allan Collins. I haven't read the comic yet, but I will get to it too. It's lying on my desk. Mendes chose the perfect style, the right visual side, and the intensity of the situations is mostly emphasized with a minimum of explicitness. The finale is excellent, I admit that I completely forgot about it. (19.03.2014)

The technically precise Mendes unfortunately made mere pawns out of his characters in Road to Perdition, who wear very nice suits and can pull the trigger at the right/wrong moment, but that's really all they can do, to put it mildly. As an "action academic film" it's perfect; as a "fatalistic and classic gangster film" it fails, especially in the psychology of the characters. Sam Mendes, in my opinion, struggled with this "phenomenon" in his first two films (in American Beauty it was still the wow-effect and so a lot of the imperfections faded in the background), Road to Perdition is unfortunately now completely marred by it (which is a shame, because the potential to become a classic was definitely there). Since the days of Jarhead I have no significant problem with Mendes, on the contrary I consider him one of the most imaginative filmmakers of our time (yes, I liked Skyfall a lot). His range is simply wide and he can be far above average in any genre – whether it's social drama, gangster film (even despite my criticisms), an incredibly fresh and in its own way timeless account of war, a maximally heated romantic drama, an almost family drama that is also but terribly sweet and human, and last but not least a Bond film that he directed really precisely. On the other hand, I have to say that even though Road to Perdition is rather mediocre in the context of his entire oeuvre, when compared to most of his other output it's still a very above average work. (03.06.2013)