History Film / RoadToPerdition

* AdaptationNameChange: A very slight example. 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" is only a lightly-fictionalized version of the real Irish gangster in 1930's Rock Island]].
* AdaptationalUgliness: The graphic novel's [[AdaptationNameChange Michael O'Sullivan]] was a much more [[http://www.comicbookreligion.com/img/m/i/Michael_OSullivan.jpg classically]] [[http://cronicasdeja.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/road3.jpg handsome]] character, and he was apparently nicknamed "Looney's Angel of Death", in part, for his good looks. Understandably, Creator/TomHanks was chosen [[AbilityOverAppearance more for his acting ability than for his physical resemblance to the character]].

* BankRobbery: The main action of the film and the comic has Michael robbing mob banks of their off-the-books money to get Rooney and Capone to give up Connor to him.

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

* ChurchgoingVillain: Mike and Mr. Rooney are both Christian and Mr. Rooney is seen praying in church, but they both also accept that their choices will keep them from ever entering Heaven.

** [[spoiler: Michael Sr. and Maguire shoot each other dead in a house right by a lake.]]

* YouShouldHaveDiedInstead: Michael believes this is how his father feels about him. [[spoiler: He is wrong.]]
* YouHaveNoIdeaWhoYoureDealingWith: Subverted when Sullivan goes on a robbery spree to recruit Capone's support. When he barges into a bank, guns drawn and specifically demanding the off-the-books money they're holding for Capone, the teller's reaction is:

* ContractOnTheHitman

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: Michael Sr. dies, but the kid lives.]]

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:The original comic. When Michael Jr. comes back to the farm at the end, he finds the elderly couple dead. He is then shot and killed himself.]]

* ShootTheShaggyDog: [[spoiler:The original comic's ending.]] See DownerEnding above.

** Michael Sr.'s wife, and son Peter, are shot dead by Connor in a bathroom.

** [[spoiler:Connor [[DeadlyBath is shot dead while sitting in a bathtub]].]]

* FriendlyEnemy: Michael and the elder Rooney. To an extent, this is also true of Michael and the Capone organization, [[RobbingTheMobBank whose money he keeps stealing from banks]], but they (or at least, Nitti) completely understand why he's doing what he's doing, and would sort of like to be on his side. [[spoiler:Once the elder Rooney is out of the picture, they happily step aside and allow Michael to get his revenge on Connor]].

* UsefulNotes/{{Chicago}}

* TheIrishMob

** Also Sullivan himself towards Michael Jr.; not only does he struggle to connect with his son, but Sullivan later admits he's had mixed feelings as [[EvilParentsWantGoodKids Jr. reminds him of himself.]]

* AdaptationalUgyness: The graphic novel's [[AdaptationNameChange Michael O'Sullivan]] was a much more [[http://www.comicbookreligion.com/img/m/i/Michael_OSullivan.jpg classically]] [[http://cronicasdeja.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/road3.jpg handsome]] character, and he was apparently nicknamed "Looney's Angel of Death", in part, for his good looks. Understandably, Creator/TomHanks was chosen [[AbilityOverAppearance more for his acting ability than for his physical resemblance to the character]].

* AdaptationalAttractiveness: Inverted with Michael. The graphic novel's [[AdaptationNameChange Michael O'Sullivan]] was a much more [[http://www.comicbookreligion.com/img/m/i/Michael_OSullivan.jpg classically]] [[http://cronicasdeja.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/road3.jpg handsome]] character, and he was apparently nicknamed "Looney's Angel of Death", in part, for his good looks. Understandably, Creator/TomHanks was chosen [[AbilityOverAppearance more for his acting ability than for his physical resemblance to the character]].

Connor tries to kill the witnesses off, but botches the job and ends up killing Mike's wife and [[ParentalFavoritism 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 UsefulNotes/AlCapone organization.

* MohsScaleOfViolenceHardness: It rates a pretty light 7, mainly due to [[spoiler:Calvino's (Doug Spinuzza)]] headshot and maybe a couple of other acts of violence.

* MoralMyopia: Connor kills Michael's family, so Michael asks Connor's father to help him get revenge. Michael didn't get the irony of his own petition.

* BloodlessCarnage: There's not much gore after Finn [=McGovern=] is given a BoomHeadshot at point-blank range by Connor. Even that is pretty clean, we see his face bloodied while he's lying dead on the ground, but there's more gunsmoke than blood during the actual shooting.

* BloodlessCarnage: There's not much gore after Finn [=McGovern=] is given a BoomHeadshot at point-blank range by Connor. Even that is pretty clean, we see his face bloodied while he's lying dead on the ground, but we see a bigger spray of gunsmoke than of blood during the actual shooting.

* AmbiguouslyGay: Rance is very fussy, flamboyant, and speaks in a somewhat effeminate manner. When he calls up the hotel staff from the bridal sweet, he tells them not to wish him congratulations, because "there is no Mrs. Rance and I am all the better for it."

* GoryDiscretionShot: Subverted. Michael shoots [[spoiler:Connor]] in his bath; we see Michael through the bathroom doorway, but his victim is off-camera. Then the bathroom door swings shut, and we see—reflected in the mirror on the bathroom door—the victim slumped in the bathtub, with his brains blown over the bathroom wall.

* BaitAndSwitch: When Michael sees Connor in his house at night through the window, Connor looks straight towards where he's standing and [[DeerInTheHeadlights Michael freezes in horror.]] Then it turns out Connor was just looking at his own reflection in the window.

* CurbstompBattle: The final shootout between Michael and [[spoiler:Rooney's bodyguards.]]

* BloodlessCarnage: There's not much gore after Finn [=McGovern=] is given a BoomHeadshot at point-blank range by Connor.

* 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" is only a lightly-fictionalized version of the real Irish gangster in 1930's Rock Island]].