So I went to see "Road to Perdition" this afternoon. My review -- eh... That's it. Just "eh."

Okay. Okay. I'll give you more. I was looking forward to seeing this. I'd read a lot of good reviews and, considering the other dreck that's out now, thought it would be a good Sunday afternoon time-waster. Tom Hanks supposedly finally plays a bad guy. Well, he's sorta what Julia Robert's character in "Pretty Woman" was to prostitutes. He's the gangster with heart of gold. Jude Law plays the real bad guy. You can tell this because his teeth are very British. Think Pogues here, folks. Paul Newman is brilliant in his role as Hanks mentor and father-figure. I just found the whole thing to be very, very predictable and very unevenly paced. The kid who played Hanks son is horrific. Casting a "new-comer" in such a critical role is somewhat bizarre to me.

The first thing you'll notice about the unidentified Midwestern town where Hanks plies his trade is that it's always dark. Dark and wet. Makes for good cinematography, I guess. In one scene there's both snow (several inches of it perfectly frigid on the ground) and a torrential downpour. This scene was obviously very important. Rain, snow and darkness. Heavy drama. There's also an excess of heavy-handed metaphoric content, the least of which isn't the title. Perdition, it so happens, is the Illinois town were Hanks and his son end up after their journey on the lam. Ooh... That's clever.

Anyway, if you want a gangster film that's engaging and pretty to look at rent "Miller's Crossing."