Scene #19: Sullivan's Revenge

This is the second entry in a series in which I'll countdown my 20 favorite scenes from the last 10 years in movies. To catch up more with the idea of this project, and to find out how you can contribute, click here.

I tried very hard to vary the scenes on this countdown, but I failed in one respect. If there's any connective tissue between even a few of these scenes, it could be summed up with three words: Revenge is sweet.

Road to Perdition, Sam Mendes' tragically forgotten follow-up to 1999's American Beauty, is one of the very best films in the last ten years to satisfyingly capture the complex emotions involved in a quest for revenge, and with Tom Hanks' shockingly atypical performance at the film's core, this quest is doubly satisfying.

The film is also a technical marvel, and this scene—the emotional climax—is spectacular. Here, Hanks' Michael Sullivan gets revenge for his dead wife and daughter. He finally gets to kill the man who has ruined his life. And between the gorgeous cinematography, the brilliant choice to make the scene near-silent, and the steely look in Hanks' eye, you've got the makings of a classic moment in modern cinema.



Back tomorrow with scene #18, which features one of the decade's funniest characters.