The Only DC Comics Movie Starring Tom Hanks Is a Masterpiece

While Tom Hanks has expressed an interest from time to time in playing superheroes like the Flash, mostly this leading man has sat out the comic book movie craze that’s swept American cinema over the last 25 years. While Hanks anchors Best Picture nominees like Elvis and Bridge of Spies, he’s often contemplated publicly about why superhero movies are so popular as well as why he prefers more grounded emotionally tangible roles. Hanks just isn’t into the world of easily-defined morality and VFX-heavy spectacle.

However, that doesn’t mean Hanks has entirely removed himself from works adapted from the big comic book companies. In fact, one of his first 21st-century movies was a star-studded adaptation of a project that hailed from Paradox Press, an imprint of DC Comics. Yes, in 2002, the summer of Spider-Man and Lilo & Stitch, Hanks embraced the gangster life to play the darker lead character of Road to Perdition, a terrific feature anchored by one of the actor’s greatest performances.

What is Road to Perdition?

Starting with 2012’s Skyfall, director Sam Mendes has embraced his status as the emperor of high-profile British cinema, a stature he continued with Spectre, 1917, and Empire of Light. His upcoming quartet of features chronicling each member of The Beatles will only enhance that reputation. However, Mendes began his career casting an eye on the darker side of America through movies like American Beauty and Revolutionary Road. His 2002 film adaptation Road to Perdition certainly continued that thematic motif. In this feature, Hanks played Michael Sullivan, a mob enforcer for the powerful John Rooney (Paul Newman).

Sullivan keeps his home and professional life separate, which means lying about his grisly job to his son Michael Sullivan Jr. (Tyler Hoechlin). However, after this kid finds out the truth about his father, the pair are forced to go on the lam together. Rooney’s so set on hunting his previously loyal employee down he’s even hired ruthless assassin Harlan Maguire (Jude Law) to track Sullivan and his boy down. In Road to Perdition, “America’s Dad” gets to be a hardened criminal who also yearns to be a good father to his son. Michael Sullivan wants nothing more than for the next generation of his family to leave this gangster life behind. The cycle of bloodshed ends with his dirty palms.

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No wonder Hanks saw more rich material in Road to Perdition than other comic book movie adaptations. This is a fascinatingly complex story morally, and Hanks masterfully plays every nuance of Michael Sullivan. He’s imposing, heartbreaking, loving, and towering again, sometimes all in the same scene. There’s so much to work with here, especially compared to the kinds of comic book movies that dominated multiplexes in the 2020s. To boot, Hanks gets to rub shoulders with a bevy of outstanding actors here, including silver screen legend Paul Newman in his last major live-action film role.

Hanks Isn’t the Only Thing Outstanding in Road to Perdition

Hanks and the other Road to Perdition actors are filtered through some remarkable visuals that don’t just settle for the imagery standards of past gangster movies. Mendes and cinematographer Conrad L. Hall instead embrace tremendously idiosyncratic visuals that help lend further unforgettable personality to the proceedings. An introductory shot of Harlan Maguire perfectly epitomizes this trait, with this image capturing Maguire in a wide shot where the world around him begins to warp and wobble. It’s a disorienting image, a perfect introduction to a man who upends any room he walks into.

Everyone’s in top form in Road to Perdition, even young Hoechlin holding his own against experienced performers like Hanks. The result is a feature that you wouldn’t ever associate with being a normal comic book movie, a reflection of how this subgenre doesn’t reflect the variety of its source material. Comic books can inhabit any genre, style, or tone. Comics can be Fun Home, Maus, Bone, and everything in between. Hollywood’s insistence on big-budget action movies being the norm for comic book movies, though, erases that reality.

Considering Road to Perdition, much like A History of Violence, is rarely thought of as a DC Comics movie adaptation, it’s no wonder this Sam Mendes directorial effort didn’t upend conceptions of what comic book movies could be. However, its artistic virtues endure nonetheless. Most importantly, its outstanding quality makes it clear why Hanks won’t return to the world of comic book movies. Once you’ve already been in one of the high watermarks of this subgenre, why return to inevitably lesser material?

Road to Perdition is now streaming on Paramount+.