The character Tom Hanks plays in the new movie "Road to Perdition" is an ice block of a man.

An enforcer for an Irish bootlegger, John Rooney (Paul Newman) in 1931 Rock Island, Hanks is a cold killer for Rooney.

Hanks' character, Michael Sullivan, has a family -- a wife and two boys -- but his warmest relationship seems to be with Rooney. At a wake early in the film, they both sit at a piano and play a simple, sweet tune together before a crowded room. Rooney's own son, Connor (Daniel Craig), watches this with jealousy and disgust, even telling Sullivan's youngest that the scene is "F____n' hysterical."

Sullivan's oldest son, Michael Jr., and Connor Rooney both do things that eventually set Sullivan against his mentor, John Rooney. Michael Jr.'s sin is forgivable, but Connor's isn't: He kills Sullivan's wife and youngest son.

This sets off a vendetta between Sullivan and the elder Rooney as Sullivan seeks revenge on Connor.

But he eventually discovers that Rooney will not give up his own flesh and blood. This leads to a fatal confrontation between Sullivan and his old boss and father figure, so that he can carry out his final revenge.

As the movie proceeds, Sullivan's character does "defrost" a little. He learns that he loves Michael Jr. (played by the talented young actor Tyler Hoechlin) and that his son loves him.

And by the end of the film, we see that love runs deep.

Yet, at its heart, "Road to Perdition" stubbornly refuses to let powerful, volcanic emotions like vengeance take over the screen.

Remember John Wayne in "The Searchers." His character is twisted by hatred for the Indians who have kidnapped his relative.

Or in "The Godfather," Al Pacino, who has been kept out of the "family business," decides to gun down two crooks in a restaurant because they tried to kill his father.

In both those stories vengeance lights up the screen.

But "Perdition" director, Oscar-winner Sam Mendes, doesn't want to tell such an American story.

A Brit, Mendes has created an almost regal and stately film about two father-son pairs: The malignant John and Connor Rooney, and the two Michael Sullivans. All of them are bound for perdition, as in hell, but salvation is held out for Sullivan's son -- or at least he hopes it will be.

The conflict between the two fathers over their sons has an almost Biblical ring to it. And Mendes gives this struggle much grace. The final showdown between John Rooney and Michael Sullivan summons up memories of Brutus stabbing Julius Ceasar or even Judas kissing Jesus.

For all that, however, "Perdition" seems too cold. If it is classical, it won't be a classic. It doesn't have the heart.

The one bright spot is the hell-spawn character created by Jude Law -- an assassin, who is also a crime photographer specializing in "shooting" the dead. With rounded shoulders and a netherworld shuffle, Law is the one bit of freakishness that we might expect from the director of "Amer-ican Beauty."