A History of Violence

A History of Violence (DVD): B/B+

My first impression of this film after it was done was that Cronenberg had put together another movie that is very effective at being psychologically creepy. All in all, this movie seems like a fairly simple film, nicely packaged, well produced and tight ... we get from point A to B rather economically, and perhaps so much so that some will feel something akin to ... what was that all about. And the plot is fairly pulpish, a very familiar scenario

I'm sure everyone is familiar with the premise that this guy is Joe Wholesome in small town America and one day he shows some surprising abilities that mild-mannered Joes don't show. The plotline was fairly A to B as well ... and to me, there was a story there, but I think the more effective aspect of the movie was the psychology of the acting and the action/violent acts. The movie is so compact that it really doesn't do a shell game of is he/isn't he with the identity subplot

I didn't really find the action/violence to be intolerably graphic, like some have noted. In fact, I thought that most of it was short to the point and effective, certainly not under or overselling it. I think it was handled very well in that it did what every picture or demonstration should do ... communicate more effectively than mere words

There are parts in the movie that are so psychologically effective in how creepy and how dramatic they are just with facial expressions and body language ... I think there may have been a missed opportunity to explore the characters more, but I don't think that that was the movie that they were aiming for here

The performances are excellent all around, Viggo does another great job, Ed Harris and Maria Bello are great in supporting roles. Maybe my only quibble is that the movie seems at times a bit too clinical and pathological ... in other words, it could have been a lot more accessible with "let the character talk in ways that normal people do not to lay out plot points" ... this was like a docudrama type style where you look in on a totally odd scenario, and in the end, it is clear that the perfect life can continue on ... but only if people pretend that they haven't had their bite of the tree of knowledge

That's an interesting point ... I think one of the key themes of the movie is that you can have a life with a family, a love of your life, an occupation, and people see you in a certain way. Well, what if people saw you differently/or saw you for you truly were ... would that change everything or could you go back to that pristine, perfect life where everyone thought they knew you ... but didn't really

Anyway, it's a quite good movie, some have called it an art movie with violence. I think that it's a good movie, but it isn't great because it doesn't let you get close to it to know it ... whatever that means