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Overall Rating
 Awesome: 45.05%
Worth A Look: 28.57%
Average: 16.48%
Pretty Bad: 3.3%
Total Crap: 6.59%
16 reviews, 86 user ratings
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| History of Violence, A |
by Lybarger
"No comfort zone here…"
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If I were to show you an outline of David Cronenberg’s new movie "A History of Violence," you’d probably imagine that the lead should be played by Charles Bronson or The Rock. At times the film seems to be treading toward the direction of "Walking Tall" and "Death Wish." It seems like unlikely material for the director of “Crash” and “Spider.” But judging by the bizarre collective gasping and groaning I heard at the end of the movie, however, Cronenberg and screenwriter Josh Olson succeeded in forcing viewers to reexamine how we look at violence and its consequences.A lot of movies have desensitized audiences to what it’s like to take a punch or even a bullet (“Sin City,” for all of its fun is an example), Cronenberg and Olson have managed to make staring at a open wound repellent and upsetting for all the right reasons. Yes, there is gore here, but Cronenberg lingers on the aftermath and makes it seems just a little too real.
The story starts out deceptively. We follow a pair of odd fellows who are emerging from a bland 50s era hotel. Gradually it turns out these guys have robbed the place and brutally murdered the family who ran it.
Cronenberg then cuts to a small Midwestern town that exudes blandness. It’s the home of Tom Stall (Viggo Mortensen), an easygoing café owner who has proves to be more than a match when the thugs who robbed the hotel try to hold him up.
He takes a small wound in his foot, but the thugs, who’ve left a trail of blood behind them, don’t survive the encounter. Because he managed to take out two wanted criminals, Tom becomes an instant hero in the national media.
The thieves may not have been taking on a typical shop owner. A trio of fierce looking mobsters—led by a menacing one-eyed Carl Fogarty (a pitch-perfect Ed Harris)—think that Tom is really a fugitive mobster named Joey Cusack who committed some heinous crimes (including busting Fogarty’s eye) back in Philadelphia.
Whoever Tom really is, he’s got a mean side that makes him able to survive because he can take out anyone who threatens to harm him, even if he doesn’t want to. Mortensen effortlessly switches from decent family man to cold blooded killer with just the blink of an eye. At times the actor almost seems possessed as he switches personalities. It’s as scary to watch his face change as it is to see the aftermath of a fight.
The supporting cast manages to keep up with him nicely. Maria Bello has several great moments as Tom’s initially supportive wife Edie. As she learns more about him, her faith is tested. William Hurt has a brief but effective turn as a Tom’s sleazy brother.
Much of what make “A History of Violence” so intriguing is that
Olson and Cronenberg demolish the standard notions of good and evil. Much of what can make a standard action film enjoyable is that they offer the comforting thought that exterminating bad people makes for a healthier world.
In John Wagner and Vince Locke’s graphic novel by on which the film is based, Tom seems more put upon than inherently dangerous. It’s a little easier to identify with him as he reluctantly takes on his past and current enemies.
Cronenberg and Olson, however, make Tom a more enigmatic and scarier figure. His drive to hurt may be repressed, but it’s just as present in him as it is in the more demonstrative Fogarty. At the end of the day, Tom really can’t go to sleep at night knowing that he’s better than the criminals he’s had to face again.
In both the book and the film, resorting to force might be necessary (guys like Fogarty have trouble understanding the word “no”), but it only seems to escalate problems instead of solving them.Cronenberg doesn’t have an answer to how we can deal with violence, but his latest movie leaves well-tied knots in your stomach that won’t go away any time soon.
link directly to this review at https://www.efilmcritic.com/review.php?movie=12761&reviewer=382
originally posted: 10/03/05 16:01:12
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USA
23-Sep-2005 (R)
DVD: 14-Mar-2006
UK
N/A
Australia
09-Mar-2006
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