History Film / RoadToPerdition

* AbilityOverAppearance: See above. Physically, Tom Hanks bears very little resemblance to the protagonist of the graphic novel. After seeing him get into the part, though, you probably won't care.

* BadassLongcoat: Pretty much everyone (except Michael Jr.) wears one.

* BeautyInversion: Harlen Maguire is a balding, hunched, brown-toothed Jude Law with an ill-fitting bowler hat and generally creepy mannerisms; not what the female audience was expecting.

* CompositeCharacter: The random mooks from the comic were all combined into a [[CanonForeigner brand new character]] for the movie: Maguire.

* DragonTheirFeet: [[spoiler: After Michael Sr. kills the entire Rooney crime family, PsychoForHire Maguire still shows up at the end and kills him, despite the fact the people who were paying Maguire were already all dead,]] because...
** ItsPersonal -- [[spoiler:Michael gave him a face full of glass and permanent scarring.]]

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Much like oranges in ''Film/TheGodfather'', [[BloodIsSquickerInWater water]] precedes every major death scene (bath, rain, lake, etc.).

--> '''Michael Sullivan:''' He murdered Annie and Peter!

* PleaseShootTheMessenger: Sullivan first discovers the plot against him when he is given a special note from him (that's actually from Connor) for the first debtor he visits: an offer to forgive the debt if the debtor kills Sullivan.

* UriahGambit: [[spoiler: Connor]] sets up Sullivan to be killed this way.

* VertigoEffect: Jude Law's character first appears walking toward the camera underneath an L track. It takes about thirty-plus seconds of screen time, whereas the typical Vertigo shot is much more fast-moving.

* BeautyInversion: Jude Law's Maguire. A balding, hunched, brown-toothed Jude Law with an ill-fitting bowler hat and generally creepy mannerisms; not what the female audience was expecting.
* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: The dad dies, but the kid lives.]]

--> '''Michael Sullivan:''' He [Connor] murdered Annie and Peter!

--> '''Michael Sullivan:''' Michael could.

* DeadlyBath: [[spoiler:Connor.]] Also, Mrs. Sullivan is giving the younger son, Peter, a bath when Connor kills them both.

* DragonTheirFeet: [[spoiler: After the protagonist kills the entire Rooney crime family, PsychoForHire Maguire still shows up at the end and kills him, despite the fact the people who were paying Maguire were already all dead,]] because...

* PleaseShootTheMessenger: Sullivan first discovers the plot against him when a message he delivers for Rooney (actually from Connor) tells the recipient to kill him.

* PsychopathicManchild: Connor.

* PsychoticSmirk: Connor.

* MoralEventHorizon: [[invoked]]This is almost the exact meaning of "perdition" - being doomed to go to hell once and for all, with no chance of salvation (hence Rooney's "none of us will see heaven").}

** Peter is originally TheUnfavorite, because "[[YouRemindMeOfX you were more like me]]".

* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: [[spoiler: After the death of John Rooney, Nitti no longer has a reason to protect Connor, and actually wants him dead because Connor is an idiot and would be a total liability once he inherited his father's legacy. Nitti decides to kill two birds with one stone and buys peace with Michael by no longer protecting Connor; when Michael shows up at Connor's hotel room to kill him, Nitti's goons open the door for him.]]

A 2002 film, directed by Creator/SamMendes, based on a comic of the same name (itself inspired by the manga ''LoneWolfAndCub''). [[TheIrishMob Mobster]] Michael Sullivan (Creator/TomHanks), and his son who followed him to work, witness the mob boss (Creator/PaulNewman)'s son Connor (Creator/DanielCraig) shoot a fellow employee (Ciaran Hinds) for [[StealingFromTheTill embezzling from]] TheSyndicate.

Connor tries to kill the witnesses off, but botches the job and ends up killing Mike's wife and [[ParentalFavouritism younger son]]. Expecting revenge, the mob takes out a ContractOnTheHitman and Sullivan and Michael go on the run, pursued by a chillingly psychopathic assassin, Maguire (Jude Law). Also starring Stanley Tucci as Frank Nitti, a real-life major figure in the Al Capone organization.

The film deals largely with father-and-son relationships -- both the protagonists and the villain of the movie have deep issues with paternal [[ParentalFavouritism favouritism]] and [[WellDoneSonGuy respect]]. Whereas Connor forces his father to try to protect him at the cost of a man he clearly [[TrueCompanions loves as a son]], Michael becomes determined that his only surviving child [[EvilParentsWantGoodKids will not become like him]].

* ParentalFavouritism: Something of a theme.
** Peter is originally TheUnfavourite, because "[[YouRemindMeOfX you were more like me]]".

* YouRemindMeOfX: An inversion of the regular usage, see ParentalFavouritism above.

* TheWindyCity

* AdaptationNameChange: In TheMovie, John Looney becomes John Rooney and Michael O'Sullivan becomes Michael Sullivan. Interestingly, though Looney likely had his name changed so that the piece's villain wouldn't have a comical-sounding name, [[RealityIsUnrealistic "John Looney" was the name of a real Irish gangster in 1930s Rock Island]].

* BadassLongcoat: Pretty much everyone(except Michael Jr.) wears one.

* [[spoiler:TheHeroDies: Michael Sr. himself at the end.]]

* TheIrishMob

Connor tries to kill the witnesses off, but botches the job and ends up killing Mike's wife and [[ParentalFavouritism younger son]]. Expecting revenge, the mob takes out a ContractOnTheHitman and Sullivan and Michael go on the run, pursued by a chillingly psychopathic assassin, Maguire (Jude Law).

* BattleInTheRain: A classic: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZphC0_XpDp4 (SPOILERS)]]
* BeautyInversion: Jude Law's Maguire. A balding, hunched, brown-toothed Jude Law with an ill-fitting bowler hat and generally creepy mannerisms: not what the female audience was expecting.

--> '''Michael Sullivan:''' He murdered Annie and Peter!

* BloodIsSquickerInWater: [[spoiler:Connor's execution]] [[DeadlyBath in the bath]]. Water preceding death is a major theme.

* DeadlyBath: [[spoiler:Connor.]]

* DragonTheirFeet: [[spoiler: After the protagonist kills the entire Rooney crime family, Psycho For Hire Maguire still shows up at the end and kills him, despite the fact the people who were paying Maguire were already all dead]].

* HistoricalDomainCharacter: Frank Nitti, the [[TheGhost entirely unseen]] Al Capone, and Elliot Ness.
* HitmanWithAHeart: Michael, especially in the comic.

* MoralMyopia: Mafia Hitman Michael Sullivan asks his boss John Rooney for justice against Rooney's son, who blew it up and ended killing Michael's family. Michael didn't get the irony of his own petition.

** In the film, John Rooney clearly favors Michael over his own son, Connor, which gives Connor a serious complex and only makes him even more of a screw-up. When called upon to choose between them, however, John chooses blood.

* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: There was a Rock Island, Illinois gangster by the name of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Patrick_Looney John Patrick Looney]]. He betrayed a formerly loyal lieutenant of his, the resulting feud led to the death of his son, and he was eventually arrested for the murder of a lawyer named William Gabel. However, Elliot Ness wasn't involved in his arrest, and Michael O'Sullivan's RoaringRampageOfRevenge is completely fictional.

* MoralEventHorizon: [[invoked]]This is almost the exact meaning of "perdition" - being doomed to go to hell once and for all, with no chance of salvation (hence Rooney's "none of us will see heaven").

Connor tries to kill the witnesses off, but botches the job and ends up killing Mike's wife and [[ParentalFavouritism younger son]]. Expecting revenge, the mob takes out a ContractOnTheHitman and Sullivan and Michael go on the run, pursued by a chillingly psychopathic assassin, Maguire (Creator/JudeLaw).

-->'''Rooney''': I curse the ''fucking day'' you were born!

** Also Sullivan himself towards Michael Jr. as, not only does he seldom show emotion around his son(save for ManlyTears), but Sullivan outright states he's had mixed feelings for him as [[EvilParentsWantGoodKids Jr. reminds him of himself.]]

* BattleInTheRain: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZphC0_XpDp4 A classic.]]

** [[spoiler: Subverted in the comic--Michael arrives to find them both dead, and immediately gets shot as well.]]

** ItsPersonal -- Michael permanently scarred his face.

* PlayingAgainstType - Daniel Craig is a whiny PsychopathicManchild, Jude Law is a sleazy, amoral {{Contract Killer|s}}, and Tom Hanks is a grim, stoic mob enforcer.
* PleaseShootTheMessenger - Sullivan first discovers the plot against him when a message he delivers for Rooney (actually from Connor) tells the recipient to kill him.
* PrecisionFStrike- From Rooney, probably the least foul-mouthed character, after he finds out Connor has [[spoiler: had Sullivan's family killed]]: "I curse the fucking'' day'' you were born!"
* PsychoForHire: Maguire. Hey, that rhymes.

Connor tries to kill the witnesses off, but botches the job and ends up killing Mike's wife and [[ParentalFavouritism younger son]]. Expecting revenge, the mob takes out a ContractOnTheHitman and Sullivan and Michael go on the run, pursued by a chillingly psychopathic assassin, Maguire (Jude Law).

A 2002 film, directed by Creator/SamMendes, based on a comic of the same name (itself inspired by the manga ''LoneWolfAndCub''). [[TheIrishMob Mobster]] Michael Sullivan (Creator/TomHanks), and his son who followed him to work, witness the mob boss (Creator/PaulNewman)'s son Connor (Creator/DanielCraig) shoot a fellow employee (Ciaran Hinds) for [[StealingFromTheTill embezzling]] TheSyndicate.

* PragmaticAdaptation: Max Alan Collins may like [[JustForPun punny]] names like naming the feature gangsters, the Looney's, but the film producers obviously decided that no audience would take a gangster with that kind of name seriously and so renamed the family the Rooneys.
** Except 'Looney' was actually the real name of said gangsters. In real life.
** Also, the creation of Maguire rather than a bunch of random hitmen.

A 2002 film, directed by Creator/SamMendes, based on a comic of the same name (itself inspired by the manga ''LoneWolfAndCub''). [[TheIrishMob Mobster]] Michael Sullivan (Creator/TomHanks), and his son who followed him to work, witness the mob boss (Creator/PaulNewman)'s son Connor (Daniel Craig) shoot a fellow employee (Ciaran Hinds) for [[StealingFromTheTill embezzling]] TheSyndicate.

* BloodIsSquickerInWater: [[spoiler:Connor's execution]] in the bath. Water preceding death is a major theme.

* BloodIsSquickerInWater: [[spoiler: Connor's execution]] in the bath. Water preceding death is a major theme.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Much like oranges in ''Film/TheGodfather'', [[BloodIsSquickerInWater water]] precedes every major death scene (bath, rain, lake, etc.).

** In the movie, Sullivan's final act is [[spoiler: shooting Jude Law]] so that his son will be able to go through life having never killed anyone. [[IfYouKillHimYouWillBeJustLikeHim If You Kill Him You Will Be Just Like Me]], if you will.

* DeadLittleSister: [[spoiler: Sullivan's wife and younger son]].

A 2002 film, directed by Sam Mendes, based on a comic of the same name (itself inspired by the manga ''LoneWolfAndCub''). [[TheIrishMob Mobster]] Michael Sullivan (TomHanks), and his son who followed him to work, witness the mob boss (PaulNewman)'s son Connor (Daniel Craig) shoot a fellow employee (Ciaran Hinds) for [[StealingFromTheTill embezzling]] TheSyndicate.

* HistoricalDomainCharacter: Frank Nitti, the entirely unseen Al Capone.