There is a misplaced conception by producers and directors that by putting big names in a picture they are assured of success. I mean,think about it. Tom Hanks and Paul Newman, how can you go wrong with a duo like that?  It's easy.  A thin story and horrible casting are just the
first two reasons in a long list that made this picture a big disappointment.  I was looking forward to seeing it from the first trailer I saw.  I was raised on gangster movies and have seen some great ones and some trash.  The two greats that come to MY mind are Angels with Dirty Faces with James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart (Warner Brothers 1938) and, of course, The Godfather (Paramount 1972).  Both of these pictures had great writing and gangsters played by actors that we believed were gangsters.  We liked the characters even though we knew they were crooks and cheered for them even as they killed because we knew they were doing
what they "had" to do.  They were criminals but they were also heroes in a strange sort of way.  We get NONE of that in this sorry excuse for a gangster picture.

Tom Hanks is Michael Sullivan, AKA The Angel of Death, a ruthless killer for "Boss" John Rooney played by Paul Newman.  Sullivan is a family man and keeps his two lives separate until his oldest son, Michael Jr. witnesses him "at work".  He is on the job with Rooney's (Newman) son Conner (Daniel Craig) who believes the kid won't keep the secret.  From
this point the story spirals into betrayal and violence as honor, friendship and loyalty become useless and outdated.  Everybody is after everybody!

My disappointment came first in the casting of Tom Hanks.  He is a great actor but will NEVER be able to convince me that he's a gangster.  He just didn't fit.  Newman?  OK, he was a fair Irish Godfather type but not a Brando.  The rest of the casting was ok but the Hanks' role just kept
popping out and ruining the believability.  The other problem I had was there were guns being fired that never went off.  What I'm saying is, we hear the shot, we see the guy fall but the gun itself never goes off.  The special effects people were slipping on this one.  And the sound effects when the Thompson Sub-machinegun was fired sounded like somebody hitting a board real fast with a hammer.  HORRIBLE!  This may not matter to some but it did to me.  I want details and authenticity.  This whole picture didn't work for me and I wondered while watching it if any of the people in charge of making it had ever seen a REAL gangster picture.  Didn't seem like it.

RECOMMENDATION:  Don't waste the time seeing this one.  Rent or buy one from the list below.  I guarantee you won't want your money back as I did after being in Perdition (look it up).

TWO LAME AND TAME THUMBS DOWN!!!

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Angels With Dirty Faces (Warners 1938)

Scarface (Paul Muni, Universal 1932)

The Roaring Twenties (Warners 1939)

The Public Enemy (Warners 1931)

And of course, The Godfather (Paramount 1972)

Movie Review © 2001 by Terry Anderson