Road to Perdition (2002)

After American Beauty claimed 5 Academy Awards, all eyes were on what Oscar-winning director Sam Mendes would take on next. Even so, few expected the filmmaker to turn to the eponymous 1998 graphic novel — by Max Allan Collins and Richard Piers Rayner — for the period drama Road to Perdition. With a cast led by Tom Hanks and Paul Newman (in his final live-action film appearance), the Depression-era film centers on a mob enforcer (Hanks) on the run with his son after the rest of their family is brutally murdered. The grounded, very human tale doesn’t make for a traditional comic book film, but thanks to Mendes’ direction and Conrad Hall’s Oscar-winning cinematography, Road to Perdition turned out to be a major awards contender and box office smash, changing public perception of what a comic book film can truly be in the process.