If you’re looking for holiday merriment this month, you should check out the best Christmas movies on Amazon Prime Video. When it came time to pick the one Amazon Prime Video that you have to watch in December, however, we decided to go with something decidedly less cheery. Our selection for December 2024 is Road to Perdition, a 2002 crime drama directed by Sam Mendes (Skyfall) from a script by David Self.
The movie is based on the 1998 graphic novel Road to Perdition by Max Allan Collins and artist Richard Piers Rayner. Despite having a future Superman in the cast, it’s completely unlike most comic book movies. Road to Perdition arrived in theaters during the same era as American Splendor and Ghost World, two other unconventional comics that would be hard-pressed to get their own movies in the franchise-obsessed Hollywood of 2024. While Road to Perdition has come and gone from Prime Video several times before, it deserves the spotlight this month because the film still isn’t widely regarded as the modern classic that it is.
Tom Hanks plays one of his darkest characters to date
Throughout the vast majority of his career, Tom Hanks has played good and heroic leading men. Those were the kind of roles that fit his everyman persona, and Hanks embraced that on his way to winning two Oscars for Best Actor and compiling a slew of box-office hits. Road to Perdition is a marked departure for Hanks, but it does play off of what audiences expect from him.
On the surface, Michael Sullivan (Hanks) is a family man during the Great Depression. He’s got a wife and two sons, and he seems like a good husband and father. He’s also a contract killer for the Irish mob. There are several scenes in the movie where Michael demonstrates these skills, but the film doesn’t revel in his violence. Instead, Michael’s guilt for his sins is something that he grapples with, especially after his ties to the mob lead to the death of his wife and one of his sons. It’s an arresting performance by Hanks, as he turned out to be just as great at diving into a darker character as he is with his lighter roles.
It’s a father and son story
Fathers and sons are the key relationships in Road to Perdition, and Hanks’ Michael plays both roles depending upon who he’s with. To his son, Michael Jr. (Tyler Hoechlin), Michael Sr. is both an admired figure, a cautionary tale, and even someone to fear. Michael Jr. loves his father, but he’s also scared by the revelation that his dad is a murderer. That discovery sets the entire story in motion, and it leaves the father and son marked for death by Connor Rooney, as played by then-future James Bond actor Daniel Craig.
That brings us to the other father and son dynamic between Michael Sr. and Connor’s dad, John Rooney (Paul Newman in his last feature film role). John raised Michael as if he was his own son, and he clearly favors him over Connor. There’s real love between Michael and John, and that makes Connor jealous of this interloper in his family.
John reluctantly signs off on the death warrants against Michael and his son because Connor left him no choice. Most of the film deals with Michael Sr. attempting to repair his relationship with Michael Jr. while urging him to find another path in life. However, the film does circle back to Michael Sr.’s bond with John to give that chapter in his life closure.
The cast is truly impressive
Hanks, Newman, and Craig all live up to their reputations as actors in this film, but Hoechlin was a revelation in one of his first major roles. As Michael Jr., Hoechlin had to hold his own against Hanks, and he does that and more with an abundance of heart. It’s no wonder this kid got to grow up to play Superman in the various DC shows on The CW, including Superman & Lois. Even at this young age, Hoechlin had the makings of a star.
Jude Law’s character, Harlen Maguire, was created for the film and he serves as one of the more immediate threats to Michael and his son. Law is suitably weird and creepy as Maguire, whose fetish for death includes taking pictures of his dying victims. More importantly, he’s a very credible villain even if he is more over-the-top than John or Connor.
Even the supporting characters are filled with small, yet great performances by Stanley Tucci, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Dylan Baker. Everyone in the film brought their A-game, and it elevated Road to Perdition to a higher level.
It’s not a standard crime thriller
It would have been understandable if Mendes gave into the temptation of using stylized violence in Road to Perdition. Mob movies and crime dramas lend themselves to that treatment. Instead, Mendes demonstrates considerable restraint by keeping the violence quick and realistic. Michael Sr. lives in a very dangerous world, and the film doesn’t shy away from that. But it doesn’t glorify it either.
If anything, the theme of Road to Perdition rejects the life that Michael Sr. chose for himself. He knows it’s no life for Michael Jr., but the question of whether the son can outrun the father’s sins hangs over the story all the way to the end of the movie. There is talk that a sequel to Road to Perdition may be made based on one of Collins’ later stories. Yet, Road to Perdition already works very well as a standalone story that has a lot to say to its audience.
Watch Road to Perdition on Prime Video.
