The whole premise of this bleak thriller hinges on whether you can picture Tom Hanks as a ruthless mob enforcer.

He's an actor - a two-time Academy Award winner - who always runs the risk of his starriness overwhelming the roles, if they're not robust enough to take it.

We've seen him as an idiot savant in Forrest Gump, an Aids-stricken lawyer in Philadelphia and a washed-up Fed Ex executive in Cast Away.

Here he has to muster all his reserves of steeliness to play Michael Sullivan, a loyal employee forced to turn on his gangster boss after his family is wiped out.

It's essentially a movie about the relationships between father and sons, with the central strand tracking Sullivan and his son Michael (Tyler Hoechlin).

When we first meet Sullivan we get a measure of the complexity of his character - he places a string of rosary beads on the bed... followed by an automatic pistol.

He's treated as a surrogate son by Mafia boss John Rooney (Newman). You can tell they're close - at one stage the two hoods bond over a piano duet (something you could never see the Krays doing).

When the young Michael witnesses his father machine-gun the bodyguards of one of Rooney's alleged crooked employees, everything changes.

The killings take place after Rooney's watery-eyed psychotic son Connor (Craig) loses control of a routine meet with the victim.

Maverick Connor then attempts to take out young Michael (the crucial witness)-but botches the killing, murdering Sullivan's wife and youngest son.

Grief and an acute sense of revenge then propel Sullivan down a path of vengeance despite his vow that young Michael doesn't follow in his footsteps.

Hanks takes a bit of getting used to as the driven killer, with the early part of the movie seeing him resemble no-one as much as a jowelly Charlie Chaplin.

However, his grip on the role tightens to give a central performance of increasing power as he realises what he's up against.

Jude Law delivers a scene-stealing show as a press photographer-come-killer who professes that he's "always been fascinated by dead bodies".

Far more mainstream than Mendes' debut triumph, American Beauty, this verges on the predictable and doesn't seem so sure-footed.

There's some stunning imagery - in fact, the film was awarded an Oscar for Cinematography.

A silent machine-gun slaying in the rain - but the ending appears pat and a little too tidy. Still essential viewing, though.

Tim Evans