Road to Perdition proves a cut above

Road to Perdition is the story of Mike Sullivan (Tom Hanks), an Irish mob enforcer working for mob boss John Rooney (Paul Newman) in the early 1930s.

Rooney loves Sullivan as a son and, in fact, appears to love Sullivan more then his own flesh and blood Connor (Daniel Craig), the heir to Rooney’s organisation.

Sullivan’s 12-year-old son Michael Jr (Tyler Hoechlin, pictured, left) hides in his father’s car one night, to find the truth about what his father does.

By mistake, he sees what he isn’t supposed to when he watches a late night meeting go badly. His wife and youngest son slaughtered in retribution, Sullivan and his son find themselves on the run, trying to escape and exact revenge on the very mob establishment that had supported them for so long.

Road to Perdition isn’t just another gangster film. It’s a wonderful blending of gangster film, buddy movie and coming of age story all wrapped up neatly and presented beautifully by director Sam Mendes.

Done artistically enough to avoid the massive amounts of blood and gore you might see in other gangster movies, it still remains coldly realistic enough to add punch to the message that these are not nice people.