2002, 2 hrs, Rated R for violence and language.�Dir: Sam Mendes. Cast: Tom Hanks (Michael Sullivan), Tyler Hoechlin (Michael Sullivan Jr.), Paul Newman (John Rooney), Daniel Craig (Connor Rooney), Jude Law (Maguire), Jennifer Jason Leigh (Annie Sullivan), Liam Aiken (Peter Sullivan), Stanley Tucci (Frank Nitti), Ciar�n Hinds (Finn McGovern).

per�di�tion. Definition: 1. the loss of the soul for eternity; damnation. 2. the destination of doomed souls; hell. 3. complete ruin; total destruction.

Director Sam Mendes, Oscar winner for American Beauty, has made another gem in Road to Perdition, set in 1930s gangland Chicago.

Tom Hanks is a hit man for Paul Newman (an underling of Al Capone who runs the town Hanks lives in) who is forced to follow a path of revenge and self-discovery after calamity befalls his family. Newman tells Hanks, "Sons are put on this earth to trouble their fathers." This is good for Hanks, bad for Newman.

Fourteen-year-old Tyler Hoechlin is brilliant in what is his first big picture, playing Hanks� son. And really, this is Hoechlin�s film, not Hanks or Newman�s. His experience is what drives the movie, and it is his life that really determines if the road to Perdition (which takes on a few different meanings) is one of redemption or tragedy.

This is a very good film. I love the cinematography, the feel and the acting, but what really made it for me was the score. The movie was a symphony, and I was completely into it, and wondering how the heck I had thought about seeing Reign of Fire instead, despite the fact that before the movie even started I knew how it would have to inevitably end.

Hanks is solid as always, Newman rules each scene like his character rules the town, Daniel Craig as Newman�s cold and calculating son is appropriately menacing and Jude Law (as a photographer-turned-hit man) freaked me out but is strangely addictive in a small yet driving role.

HOWEVER, I'm subtracting from Road to Perdition for the odd transposing of scenes that left me scratching my head (wipe for spoilers):

The diner scene should have - was supposed to? - have taken place before Hanks teaches Hoechlin to drive and they go through a bank robbery spree. Plain and simple, that bullet hole was there during the teaching yet hadn't happened. Instead, the movie takes place backwards, with Hanks getting shot but not having a reaction to it until after the diner scene.

(July 16 note - I'm told my projectionist screwed this up, not the filmmakers - so that's refreshing.)

(July 18 note - I've seen the movie again, and golly gee, doesn't it make such a difference to see a movie in the right order? Thus I'm adding back a half-star and apologizing to the filmmakers for the errors of Carmike Cinemas, who had better be sending free tickets to me and my brother!)

Still, I�m going to strongly recommend seeing this film for what it is, not what it might be. This road ends at a pot of gold.