A History Of Violence

• Cert:
• Running time: 96 minutes
• Year: 2005
• Released: 30th September 2005
• Widescreen Ratio: 1.85:1
• Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1

Director:

(The Fly, Naked Lunch, Dead Ringers, eXistenZ, Crash, Videodrome, Scanners)

Producers:

Screenplay:

(based on the graphic novel by John Wagner & Vince Locke)

Cinematographer:

Music:

Howard Shore (The Lord Of The Rings)

Cast:

David Cronenberg makes tough, adult, unusual movies.

A History Of Violencecontinues that trend, but has a more mainstream premise that should appealto people outside of Cronenberg fandom and perhaps pull in some new fans.

Tom Stall (a sublime Viggo Mortensen) is a typical everyman living insmalltown America. He owns the local diner, is a father to level-headed sonJack and cute toddler Sarah, and loving husband to wife Edie. The Stallfamily are normal people living a normal existence… until Tom’s diner isvisited by two hitmen, and Stall becomes a local hero after swiftlydispatching the hoodlums single-handedly.

However, with Stall now reluctantly reaping the benefits of minor celebrityand respect amongst his peers, his diner is again visited by mobsters – thistime headed by Carl Foggarty (a brilliant Ed Harris), who insists Tom isactually a Philadelphia gangster named Joey Cusack.

A History Of Violence is a slow-burning suspense thriller, slowly developingits plot to reel in the audience. Does Tom Stall have a secret identity?Well, to go much further will damage the movie’s plot, but while the overallmystery is played very well, and the story does take some interestingturns… the overall punch of the movie is decidedly mixed.

The performance throughout are absolutely brilliant; Mortensen’s damagedhero is excellently balanced, Harris’ lizard-eyed mobster is his best workin years, Maria Bello‘s loyal wife provides some emotionally taught scenes,William Hurt‘s fantastic with a late-appearance as crimelord Richie, whileAshton Holmes is a real find as Tom’s bullied son.

Cronenberg’s movie clearly makes a number of statements on the effects ofviolence in society and how people view it and react to it. The townsfolkapplaud Tom’s vicious slaying of mobsters, while his son Jack takes hisfather’s actions as subconscious approval to beat-up a local bully. In theearly stages of the movie, A History Of Violence simply oozes class andstyle, with the ever-present promise of something better just around thecorner.

However, by the end you realize the film didn’t really take any unexpecteddiversions. The prospect of a radical twist or ground-shaking moment isalways palpable, and while there are a few “key moments” guaranteed to keepaudiences on tenterhooks (usually in the form of some gruesome deathscenes), there isn’t really anything massively unexpected… and the movieends on an intriguing, yet unfulfilling, scene.

Overall, I really wanted to love A History Of Violence, but after a verystrong first half, the movie simply plays itself out and doesn’t redeemitself with a particularly strong finale. There are some memorable momentsand an abundance of strong performances, expertly directed by Cronenberg,but A History Of Violence just lacked a killer bite I thought the greatauteur could have supplied us.

DIRECTION
PERFORMANCES
PLOT
SPECIAL FX
SOUND/MUSIC



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