Road to Perdition [Blu-ray]

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by: Cary B. Barad (Baltimore, MD)
on: Thursday, 30-September-2010

A superlative drama with enough suspense, pathos, criminality and humor to keep you involved over the entire span of the film. The star-studded cast does its stuff, and I doubt that you will be disappointed if you are seeking a heartstopping and heartbreaking viewing experience.

Id like to add that this is the first blu-ray disc Ive viewed on my new Samsung Blu-Ray/HDTV units and the visual effects were out of this world. The lack of a resume function is the only major equipment drawback so far. It should also be noted that the disc itself had subtitles but did not show closed captions as advertised.

by: Logan T Carlson (United States)
on: Saturday, 18-September-2010

Let me start off by saying that this is one of the best gangster movies that i have seen in my lifetime. It has a amazing cast with performances from Tom Hanks who plays Mike Sullivan, the father and mian character of the story, Paul Newman as John Rooney, Jude Law, and a single performance by Tyler Hoechlin. What makes this film stand out is the cinematography by Conrad L. Hall who won an Oscar for his work. The world of the 1930s mob citys and country sides takes your breath away as you get immersed in this world of violence, betrayal, and a bond between father and son. The story revolves around Mike Sullivan and his son witnessing a murder that he commensed. What follows is betrayal, death, and a great ending to an excellent peice of work. The Blu-ray version is exceptionally well, showing off all the little details from seeing every rain drop in the gun shootout, to little textures that a dvd could never display. If you are debating weather to buy this movie or not, I reccomend buying it. Its an excellent movie, stellar cast, and dark story will keep you watching til the end.

by: Dee from Gary, Indiana (USA)
on: Friday, 17-September-2010

I wont do a long review here, but just to say this film was definitely worth the money and the time to watch it. The acting was very good and you are rivited. You wont be disappointed.

by: Tony Khamvongsouk (Frisco, TX)
on: Wednesday, 8-September-2010

Movie - 5.0

Id never seen the movie until a few years ago when a friend of mine let me borrow it on DVD. I had little expectations going in, other than the fact that Tom Hanks (of all people) was playing a hitman. I hadnt (and still havent seen, at the time of this review) American Beauty and only knew who Sam Mendes was by name, and not reputation. Back then, I thought the movie was pretty good. I saw it mostly as a revenge-themed story, liked the bits of character development throughout, and enjoyed the overall aesthetic feel of post-Depression 1930s gangster-dom. Today, after having developed a better sense of awareness and taste for a films writing, I am completely blown away by the level of depth in story and character on this subsequent viewing. Plot summary aside, I find Road to Perdition to be everything I remember and so much more. Its a coming-of-age story for sons, a resolution for fathers, a testament to the brutality of violence, and an emotional tale about the preservation of innocence all brilliantly disguised in the form of a revenge thriller. I was particularly engrossed by the parallel relationships shared between father and son through all forms: Sullivan and his son, Rooney and his son, then Rooney and Sullivan Sr. The similarities shared between the father-son pairings make for some very quaint and believable bonds, while still managing to make these characters empathetic. Without revealing too much, the story possesses a lot of thematic value and is a very moving drama that tells a masterful story through a lost setting that we just dont see much of anymore (that is, the 1930s gangster era). Tom Hanks is in top form as Sullivan Sr. with outstanding support performances by Daniel Craig, Stanley Tucci, Jude Law, Tyler Hoechlin, and the late Paul Newman. Its great that the film won an award for Cinematography and was nominated for some other technical categories, but nothing for Best Picture, Director, or Actor? Oh well, regardless of Oscar snubs, Im happy to say this is definitely a new all-time favorite for me now.

Video - 4.5

As mentioned, Road to Perdition won an Academy Award for Cinematography, and with good reason. The picture looks gorgeously bleak. Colors are subdued, with a lot of grays, charcoals, and solid blacks being the focus. Primaries dont make much of an appearance apart from the happier moments outside in the sunlight or in any scenes where blood is present. But despite the photography, they look as good as can be. Skin tones have a very natural presentation to them and never feel too pale or over-saturated, providing for some very fine textures in hair and face wrinkles. By far the most eye-catching aspect of the camera work is the black levels. Blacks are super deep and inky, with some especially excellent line and shadow delineation amidst the many, many darkly-lit scenes and layers of clothes being worn. The detail is so great, and I was really impressed at being able to see all the little things I dont think I ever noticed on the DVD, like the scene where Hanks goes into the night club and you can clearly see the paper over the gun and lamp shades shaking to the music, or when Hanks is walking on the street in the dark and you can see all the linings between his vest, suit, and overcoat. The image is one of the finest Ive seen on BD to date. Unfortunately, while just about everything else is preserved, the only detractor would be the very frequent amounts of dirt and debris throughout. Aside from that one little mishap, the picture is essentially perfect.

Audio - 5.0

Unlike the video, however, the audio comes across just fine and dandy. As soon as the film started and I heard the sound of the waves crashing, I knew I would be in for good things from a sound perspective. Buoyancy is a word I use a lot for audio descriptions and is a term I like to think of as identifying a quality of pop to the presentation, much like the editors and critics use for the video portions of a review. Well, the DTS-HD track here really does have a pop to it, and right from the get-go. Directionality and separation offer all kinds of goodness from proper placement to panning, to flawless mixing between dialogue and music. The sound crew was nominated for a couple of Oscars in both mixing and editing, and this BD shows exactly why. Every subtle sound, high and low, front, left, right, and back are handled with a great amount of care and detail. The dialogue is always pitch-perfect and never distorts through the center, while the occasional background noise, street crowd, blowing of wind, and car engine add a good deal of depth to the city of Chicago. Thomas Newmans score (another shocking fact to know he hasnt won an Oscar yet) sounds wonderful and emotionally stirring, propelling the drama on-screen, yet never overpowering the dialogue or sound effects. And as for the sound effects, gunshots dominate the sound field and conquer with just cause when need be. I believe this is my first time hearing a Tommy Gun in lossless audio, and boy is it frightening. LFEs are mostly inherent within the music, background and score-wise, but have a particularly great moment during the passing of a subway train when we first meet Jude Laws character. This is definitely reference material.

Extras - 4.0

From the DVD we get the basic making-of featurette, deleted scenes with optional commentary, and extremely poignant feature film commentary by Sam Mendes. The making-of is really as basic as it comes and isnt much to talk about. The deleted scenes provide a little more context to the story that we might not have known, yet are still surprised by. And the commentary by Mendes is as good as they come. Next to Michael Mann and Christopher Nolan, this one of the best commentaries Ive heard. Hes very into the explanation of the film, both from a technical and literary viewpoint, and really gets in-depth with a lot of the explanations concerning what he wanted to convey on-screen, how he did it, or why/how its different from the original graphic novel. New to the BD is an introduction by Mendes to this new and impressive Blu-ray edition, a retrospect on the life and career of the films master cinematographer, the late Conrad L. Hall, and an interactive library explaining some of the period elements of the film. At this point, Im just now making it a habit of getting to know some of the technicians behind the camera, in addition to the many other important names I feel are important. And I have to say, after seeing the feature on Mr. Hall, my interest in the man has really peaked now. Before seeing this film, I knew photography could make a world of difference in the way a movie feels. And for as good as his craft was in Road to Perdition, I really am curious to see his other works at some point. As for the new library archive, I found it very interesting in terms of content, but the tiny screen thing was a problem. Im pretty sure it cant be blown up, but personally, I wish they had just put it all together as a regular HD featurette. For what it is, though, its full of some pretty good, albeit sparse, information.

Overall - 4.5

I thought the movie was pretty good when I first saw it. But knowing what I know now, and with the help of Blu-ray, I have to say I really love the film. Its a character drama thats full of heart and really draws a lot of empathy from me, personally. With Grade-A quality in all aspects of both technical and literary departments, the film is an extreme joy for me to watch, thanks in huge part to the cinematography, cast, and score. The A/V specs are definitely the pinnacle of BD technology, and its nice to even get a blessing from Mendes himself (an admitted skeptic, initially). Add to that a great set of special features, and you have yourself a must-own piece of film-making brought graciously to you by Paramount.

by: filmmaker617 (Los Angeles CA)
on: Monday, 6-September-2010

So happy this just came out on DVD, got the BluRay much earlier than expected

by: Nicanor Journey (Houston, Texas)
on: Friday, 20-August-2010

Road to Perdition is a movie that brings you in with the strong performances of its acting cast and keeps your interest with cinematography that is some of the finest ever seen in Hollywood. It is a tale of fathers, their sons, and the gangster era of Al Capone. It pits hit man Michael Sulivan (Hanks) against a bounty hunter (Jude Law) who has been hired by his boss, and father figure John Rooney (Paul Newman) as Sulivan attempts to kill Rooneys trigger happy son (Daniel Craig). At the same time Sulivan must teach and protect his son (Tyler Hoechlin).

Without spoiling anymore plot points of the film I can say that the center of this film is the bonds forged by fatherhood. Sulivan seeing John Rooney as a father figure gives this movie an entirely new depth that wasnt seen in Max Allan Collins graphic novel. Dont get me wrong, the movie also loses several aspects of its source material; I would have liked them to use the ending from the graphic novel that shows what type of man Michael Sulivan Jr. grows up to be. Road to Perdition is a stylish movie adaption of a great graphic novel that knows what to change without ruining the store. In many ways this makes it similar to 1994s The Crow, where the story is drastically changed, but through visuals and music the film not only feels like the graphic novel, but manages to reach greatness all its own.

Acting from Hanks and Newman is absolutely phenomenal. Both actors really give it their best and give off a strong sense of emotional attachment and care. Hanks turns in a great performance as an anti-hero proving that he is one of the greatest actors currently living and Paul Newman makes sure his final performance is a great one. The rest of the cast is good too, but this pair is absolutely dynamite!

Sam Mendes and cinematographer Conrad L. Hall (who would win the Academy award for his work in this film) create an awesome visual experience. Sam Mendes said that after the Best Picture winning American Beauty he wanted to make a film that focused more on telling its story through visuals instead of dialogue and he succeeds. This is a well crafted drama that lets its images do all the talking that is needed to tell the story.

The somber score by Thomas Newman captures the mood of this period piece. It doesnt have much excitement in it, but it has a quiet, eerie tune that helps the mood. A song entitled Ghosts which appears in one of the climatic scenes is one of the most beautiful, haunting pieces of music Ive ever heard.

If you havent seen Road to Perdition, go out and rent it. It is a father and son story that is unlike any other that will stay with you long after the credits begin to roll.

by: Leif Sheppard (United States)
on: Tuesday, 3-August-2010

Road to Perdition proved that the success director Sam Mendes enjoyed with his first feature, American Beauty, wasnt a fluke. Based on the graphic novel by Max Allan Collins, the film follows the story of a Depression-era enforcer working for the local Irish mob boss and his relationship with his son after a devastatingly tragic series of events. Cinematographer Conrad Hall won an Academy Award for his work on this film, and once seen, one can hardly argue he didnt earn it. Since there are a multitude of reviews detailing the virtues of the film itself, for the purposes of brevity Ill focus on the technical aspects of the Blu-Ray release.

Paramount has provided an absolutely perfect transfer of this film for its debut on Blu-Ray. Take note that the cinematography is intentionally dark and somewhat grainy, so this wont have the same perfectly clean image as a film rife with CGI or animation (i.e. Avatar or any Pixar film). The transfer is extremely sharp on detail and aids in the overall beauty of the film, whilst still remaining entirely faithful to the original intentions of the director and cinematographer. Ive often been impressed with the care Paramount gives to its catalog titles, and this one is no different.

The Blu-Ray is presented in a single disc version with seven special features (three of which are exclusive to the Blu). The audio tracks include a 5.1 English DTS-HD master audio track and two 5.1 Dolby Digital tracks in French and Spanish. Subtitles are also included in English, French, or Spanish. There are no pre-menu trailers on the disc. The special features include:

1) Introduction by Director Sam Mendes (1:18) [HD] - Brief opening words from Mendes, who highlights the exquisite cinematography and says a few gracious words about the late Conrad Hall.

2) A Cinematic Life: The Art and Influence of Conrad Hall (26:39) [HD] - The jewel of the two new special features included with the Blu, this is an outstanding piece covering the illustrious career of Hall, which not only contains interesting bits about his work but also sheds a little light on the man behind the camera. There are plenty of expressive photographs and film clips, as well as copious interviews with other crew members that worked with Hall as well as his own son (who is also a cinematographer). The last few minutes focus especially on Road to Perdition.

3) The Library: A Further Exploration of the World of Road to Perdition [HD] - This is a sort of informative, interactive photo gallery that contains text covering historical curiosities of the era and information about the production of the film. Its split into four sections: Crime Scene Portraits, Real World Organized Crime, News Stories of the Day, and Inspiration & Adaptation. There was great effort placed into this and as a result its one of the better photo galleries Ive seen on Blu - though the animated menus get more than a little obnoxious after a few minutes.

4) Deleted Scenes (22:16) [SD] - A selection of eleven deleted scenes with optional commentary by Mendes. Nothing new is included here, all of these were available on the original DVD release.

5) The Making of Road to Perdition (25:04) [SD] - This was also included on the original DVD release and functions as a standard, by-the-numbers making-of piece. Theres some interesting stuff here, but also plenty of clips from the film (owing to its origins as a promotional piece).

6) Theatrical Trailer (2:52) [HD]

7) Feature-Length Film Commentary with Sam Mendes

Road to Perdition is a modern masterpiece with an incredibly talented cast, a profoundly moving story, and hauntingly beautiful cinematography. At least once a year I pour myself a glass of wine, settle into my recliner, and let this film wash over me for the next two hours. I can safely tuck away my DVD copy in storage now, because Paramount has put together a fittingly wonderful Blu-Ray release for one of the true cinematic gems from the last decade, giving it a gorgeous five-star transfer and culling together both the features from the original DVD release as well as adding excellent, brand new features. They even threw in the theatrical trailer in HD (something which was missing from the DVD) and is always a welcome addition to any video release. Quite simply, I offer my highest recommendation for Road to Perdition on Blu-Ray. Five well-earned stars.

by: Kurt Weisel (Oklahoma City, OK)
on: Wednesday, 2-June-2010

This movie is a good crime thriller, some great actors and a plot that keeps you well into the movie itself. A movie about a young boy led to the dark side of human behavior by his father. All in all, a good flick.

by: Ken Young (Southern California, USA)
on: Friday, 28-May-2010

This is a wonderful movie. All of the characters are well developed. The acting is superb. A must see film. It is to bad they do not develop movies like this anymore. Strong Plot!!!!

by: Hamms (TN)
on: Wednesday, 12-May-2010

Great story of a man torn between two worlds, something I think alot of people can identify with. Good gangster flick with a good underlying story. Great performance by Hanks. His character sucks you right into his pain. Newman, Tucci and Law turn in solid performances as they always do. I think this movie was overlooked by alot of people because it wasnt just a blood and guts shoot em up (although it does have a good amount of it) but had a story to it. Worth checking out

by: J. White (Ukiah Ca.)
on: Friday, 2-April-2010

THis was well acted drama. well look at the cast! Not for kids. an adult movie. 1930s I liked the old cars :) Had a gangster theme but not bonny and clyde. Just enjoy it. I kept it to watch again some day.

by: Up North (United States)
on: Friday, 19-February-2010

Oddly enough, I like this better than the Godfather movies to which it so obviously owes so much. But I am a sucker for films in which the tenor of the tale and the atmosphere/ambience blend into one. In this case all of the rain and the sombre nature of the tale merge into a kind of saturnine haze that captivated me. This is one of my favorite Hanks roles. Very well done.

4 1/2 stars.