← Back to Reviews
in
Road to Perdition (2002) R
A mob enforcer's son accidentally witnesses his father at work. Things go even more wrong after the boss's idiot son panics and decides to get rid of the witness.
It's been quite a while (about 15 years) since I last saw this but I remembered there's something that bothered me. It took me most of the film to figure out what it was. I absolutely hate the ending and the philosophy behind it. That's half a popcorn off the rating right there.
Visually Road to Perdition is beautiful and while I haven't read the comic I can imagine what it looks like. Its depiction of 1930s cities is almost surely flattering but definitely pleasing to the eye. Same goes to costumes and gear - pretty but little too polished and clean all the time. Film Noir styled rainy scenes add some darker tones to the palette.
There's a somber atmosphere in the film and it's rather obvious that there's no happy ending to this. I don't mind the predictability as it comes with the style but those character choices and reactions during the finale were awful. Otherwise characters were quite good and so was the acting (I don't like Hanks though and would have preferred someone else on the leading role).
Initially I though this was better than I remembered. Was planning to give four popcorn but after that stupid end I was contemplating between three and three-and-half but I feel generous today.
A mob enforcer's son accidentally witnesses his father at work. Things go even more wrong after the boss's idiot son panics and decides to get rid of the witness.
It's been quite a while (about 15 years) since I last saw this but I remembered there's something that bothered me. It took me most of the film to figure out what it was. I absolutely hate the ending and the philosophy behind it. That's half a popcorn off the rating right there.
Visually Road to Perdition is beautiful and while I haven't read the comic I can imagine what it looks like. Its depiction of 1930s cities is almost surely flattering but definitely pleasing to the eye. Same goes to costumes and gear - pretty but little too polished and clean all the time. Film Noir styled rainy scenes add some darker tones to the palette.
There's a somber atmosphere in the film and it's rather obvious that there's no happy ending to this. I don't mind the predictability as it comes with the style but those character choices and reactions during the finale were awful. Otherwise characters were quite good and so was the acting (I don't like Hanks though and would have preferred someone else on the leading role).
Initially I though this was better than I remembered. Was planning to give four popcorn but after that stupid end I was contemplating between three and three-and-half but I feel generous today.