Although this film has a lot of great elements working for it -- great technical aspects and masterful performances from Jude Law and Paul Newman -- somehow it doesn't add up. The mood is confusing and suffers from unnecessary bouts of comic relief. The character development is inconsistent, and the viewers simply have to take certain things for granted. As is too often the case, Tom Hanks underplays a character, and his absent performance is misinterpreted as "understated." (Much was made of the fact that he played a "bad guy," but really his character was the most moral in the picture, save that of the son, and besides, he's played unpopular before, and better, in "A League of Their Own.") Jennifer Jason Leigh's talents are wasted. Hopefully director Sam Mendes has something better on the horizon.
Review of Road to Perdition
