Viggo Mortensen

Maria Bello

Ed Harris

William Hurt

Ashton Holmes

Peter MacNeill

Stephen McHattie

Greg Bryk

Kyle Schmid

Sumela Kay

Gerry Quigley

Deborah Drakeford

Heidi Hayes

Aidan Devine

Bill MacDonald

Michelle McCree

Ian Matthews

R.D. Reid

Morgan Kelly

Martha Reilly

Jason Barbeck

Bruce Beaton

Neven Pajkic

Brendan Connor

Nick Antonacci

John Watson

Don Allison

Brittany Payer

Mitch Boughs

April Mullen

George King

Shawn Campbell

David Cronenberg

Chris Bender

Josh Olson

Peter Suschitzky

Ronald Sanders

Howard Shore

J.C. Spink

Kent Alterman

Cale Boyter

Josh Braun

Toby Emmerich

Justis Greene

Roger Kass

Deirdre Bowen

Carol Spier

Jake Weiner

Denise Cronenberg

Peter Nicolakakos

James McAteer

Dug Rotstein

Takashi Seida

Karen Elliott

Jennifer Dunnington

John Stoneham Jr.

Michael O'Farrell

Wayne Griffin

Mark Zsifkovits

Christian T. Cooke

Orest Sushko

Clive Turner

Mary-Lou Green-Benvenuti

Heather Meehan

Stephan Dupuis

Gordon Lebredt

Gordon White

Ciara Brennan

Dennis Berardi

Aaron Weintraub

Fiona Campbell Westgate

John Furniotis

Walter Gasparovic

Jodi A. Tario

Chris Pizzarelli

Greg DaPrato

Peter Sissakis

Duane Rutkowski

Dave Van Zeyl

Bryan J. Thomas

Duncan McLeod

Christopher McGuire

Chad Camilleri

Michael Iwan

Alastair Gray

John Wagner

Vince Locke

Don White

Andy Malcolm

Goro Koyama

Chris Navarro

David Yonson

Colin McLellan

Matthew McKenzie

Glen Gauthier

Deryck Blake

Dusty Reeves

David Neil Trifunovich

Candide Franklyn

Luisa Cabbidu

Zameret Kleiman

Scotty Allan

Patricia Cowmeadow

Drama

Thriller

Crime

A History of Violence

New Line Cinema

BenderSpink

Media I! Filmproduktion München & Company

Germany

United States of America

English

small town

hero

robbery

indiana, usa

distrust

philadelphia, pennsylvania

dual identity

double life

fight

identity

self-defense

marriage

diner

mistaken identity

based on comic

family relationships

irish mob

revenge

mobster

lawyer

attempted robbery

based on graphic novel

Gimly

Probably Cronenberg's most mundane work, but that's not even remotely a knock against _A History of Violence_. I hear tell that fans of the comic don't much like this big screen re-telling, but I've never read it, so I'm gonna go ahead and really enjoy it anyway.

_Final rating:★★★½ - I really liked it. Would strongly recommend you give it your time._

CinemaSerf

We start with images of two rather brutal hoodlums who have robbed and massacred the staff at a roadside motel and then sort of follow them into a town where "Tom" (Viggo Mortensen) runs the diner. They stop by one afternoon, intent on causing a bit of mayhem, only to discover that their host is a bit more capable of defending himself than they'd anticipated. Quickly "Tom" is lauded as an hero, and wife "Edie" (Maria Bello) and kids "Jack" (Ashton Holmes) and "Sarah" (Heidi Hayes) are proud to have their dad at home. What he hadn't anticipated, though, is that the publicity would attract the attention of one-eyed gangster "Fogarty" (Ed Harris) who arrives and starts calling him "Joey". Who's "Joey"? Well we quickly find out that nothing is as it seems and we gradually begin to realise that the past always has an habit of catching up with you. This is a violent film, but oddly enough I felt it rather visually tame as the pieces start to fall into place and the arrival of William Hurt signals an escalation that cleverly marries the comically menacing with the somewhat predictable conclusion. There's not a great deal of dialogue here, though not quite on the Clint Eastwood scale, and Mortensen holds it together increasingly well as we move along. It's one of the few films that I feel could have added half an hour or so, just so we get to grips a bit better with the characterisations and concomitant baggage, but as it is - it's well worth a look.

A History of Violence (Trailer)

A History of Violence( 2005)

Tom Stall had the perfect life...until he became a hero.

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A review by Gimly

Written by Gimly on Fri Sep 07 2018

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