road to perdition

[derek]

saw this new tom hanks film today. very good, but not the best mafia film since the godfather as all the critics are saying. hanks played his character in such a "low key" manner that i think i would of liked it better if he had shown a little more emotion. but i guess that is what separates the greats like tom hanks from lesser performers who have to "over-act" in every role.

and jude law was very creepy in his role as an assassin. but i laughed when i saw how they thinned his hair out to make him look like he's balding. what's up with that?

overall a very good mafia film. but what does EternalPadawan think? {it was directed by the american beauty guy.}

[QLD]

I am looking forward to seeing this. It looks pretty good. And I can't remember the last good drama I saw.

[Exhaust Port]

I saw a special about this film on HBO this week and it piqued my interest for sure.

[morecow299]

the movie looked pretty good. i was planning on seeing it...eventually

[Eternal Padawan]

I thoroughly enjoyed it. I thought everyone gave excellent performances, especially Craig Daniel (Newman's son) and the young man playing Michael.

It made me want to hunt down the original graphic novel. usually I'm not a big fan of Max Allan Collins stuff. I've met the guy since I used to live in the Quad Cities (RTP takes place in Rock Island) and he has an inflated opinion of himself. He thinks he's the local "celebrity" and acts the part. Anyone ever see his craptacular horror films? Mommy's Day and Mommy's Day 2? Euck.

The only part I didn't like was that hogswallop of a final voice over and the boy going to live with the old couple.

And who names a town (or suburb) Perdition? Oh yes, very clever giving the title double meaning. Not.

I will say I enjoyed Sam Mendes sophomore effort more than I enjoyed Chris Nolan's.

I will probably buy this one on DVD.

[wedgeA]

Saw the film last night. I thought it was excellent. While the story might have been pretty simple, I thought it was one of the most well shot films I have seen in a long time. The climax on the street outside the bar was incredible.

Eternal Padawan,

I had no idea that Collins was from the Quad Cities, I do remeber hearing something about Mommy's Day and Mommy's Day 2 in the Daily Iowan.

[JediCole]

Mrs. JediCole and I went to see this last Sunday and I was quite impressed. Thankfully the old eye injury is not too troublesome when it comes to enjoying movies on the big screen and I was as glad of that for this film as I was for both Episode II and Spider-Man.
I too would love to seek out the original incarnation of this tale. I found the plot to be solid, the performances to be above par, and the casting to be ideal. The scene of Tom Hanks and Paul Newman playing the piano at the wake was quite powerful and helped to establish the place of the character within the powerful family that efectively adopted him.

Given that this is a Star Wars based site, I can't help but notice that, yet again, we discover that George Lucas and Robin Gurland CANNOT cast children! How did we ever get a "Jerry Mathers School of Character Actors" bottom-of-the-class "actor" like Jake Lloyd foisted on us in the pivitol role of Luke Skywalker?! Have you seen the making-of footage on the EI DVD? They show Jake tripping over his lines in audition while other, real ACTORS deliver excellent cold-read performances and were passed over in favor of the monotone, half-hearted acting of Jake Lloyd!

But I digress. Jude Law, who I discovered in his incomprable role in one of the most intellegent and at once underrated, films of all time A.I., was wonderful in Road to Perdition. The character was one of the most unique and original I've encountered on film in many years.

All in all I left the theatre quite satisfied and looking forward to a few more summer films coming down the pike - Austin Powers: Goldmember, Eight Legged Freaks, and One Hour Photo prominant amoungst them.

[2-1B]

Awesome movie -
Law could not have been creepier! What was with his teeth? Hideous. That and his thin hair was disturbing (that and, you know, the whole death pics thing )

derek, I liked how low key Hanks was. I expected him to be a little more emotional, so when I didn't see it I just liked the character more. Good point about "overacting" though, because if they DID have someone going over the top, it would have suffered (especially since he kills so many people - as it was, the killings were compelling every time, it wasn't desensitizing).

I loved the scene in the burlesque house, I knew Connor was up to something, just not sure what. And reading the note afterward gave even more weight to the tension over that gun on the desk.

The only scene that I didn't like was Sullivan's slaying of Rooney's henchman in the rain. The way they all stood there, firing into the dark (well, at the light of the tommy gun) while STILL HOLDING their umbrellas made me disbelieve for a moment. But the way Rooney turned and said "I'm glad it's you" made up for it.

BTW, did you recognize Finn McGovern as the Russian president from Sum of all Fears ?