Road to Perdition is a 2002 crime drama set in 1930s Boston and starring Tom Hanks, Paul Newman, Daniel Craig, Jude Law, and Tyler Hoechlin.
10 out of 10 stars. This is one of my favorite films and was just released in HD on Netflix this week.
In 1931 Boston, Michael Sullivan is the enforcer for John Rooney’s mob syndicate. When Michael’s parents died, John took him in and treated him like a son, so Michael is fiercely loyal to John. But that loyalty is put to the test when his son Michael Junior hides under the back seat of his car and witnesses John Rooney’s son Connor murder a man in cold blood. Connor puts a hit out on Michael’s entire family and Michael doesn’t figure this out until his wife and youngest son Peter are already dead. So he grabs Michael Junior and they run.
When Michael discovers that Connor had been robbing his father and embezzling syndicate funds then blaming the theft on other syndicate family members, John does nothing but say “I know.” So Michael is forced to try to get to Connor through the Chicago mob syndicate, Al Capone’s group. When he goes to Frank Nitti, who runs the syndicate for Capone, Nitti refuses to help Michael although he supports him. The problem is Connor is the heir to the Boston mob syndicate. So Michael devises a plan to both force Capone’s syndicate who is hiding Connor to let him kill him and to eliminate John as the Boston crime boss so Connor is no longer valuable to anyone.
Meanwhile the uber creepy killer who takes the contract on Michael is a photographer who enjoys photographing the dead. He works as a photo journalist on the side, but his main income is killing for money. And he’s a crack shot.
Brilliantly acted. Beautifully haunting music. Stunning cinematography.
10 out of 10 stars. Loved the poetic justice.
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