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| A History of Violence (2005)
 
Starring: Viggo Mortensen, Maria Bello, Ed Harris, William HurtDirector: David Cronenberg Rating: R Category: Thriller  |
Based on the DC comics graphic novel by John Wagner and Vince Locke, “A History of Violence” is not exactly what you’d expect from director David Cronenberg. It’s clear-cut and probably his most accessible picture to date. But it’s also a fine piece of American cinema that delivers a much-needed commentary on the affects of violence on society. With so many big-budget action movies flopping at the box office this past summer, it’s crazy to think that a quaint genre film like “A History of Violence” would handle its action sequences with the most panache.
Tom Stall (Viggo Mortensen) is a small town restaurant owner with a beautiful lawyer wife (Maria Bello) and two children, but when he effortlessly kills a pair of thieves that assault his diner, he becomes a media-hailed American hero overnight. As the excitement dies down and Tom’s life is seemingly restored back to normal, three men in black suits enter his diner accusing him of being someone else. Led by East Coast mobster Carl Fogerty (Ed Harris), the men claim that Tom is, in fact, Joey Cusack, a former member of the same crime syndicate who fled Philadelphia to begin a new life. His older brother Richie (William Hurt) is now a powerful member of the syndicate and wants to see Joey one last time before exacting his revenge.
“A History” does a brilliant job of jumping in to streaks of extreme violence with no problem, but what’s unsettling about the process is that it’s probably not as jolting as it should be. The violence is never hyperbolized, and yet when the tranquil Tom quickly attacks his enemies, it feels strangely surreal. The fantastic nature of the movie is only further amplified by a subplot involving Tom’s son’s (Ashton Holmes) reaction to his father’s unexpected spurts of violence, but by the time the story comes full circle, its authenticity remains intact.
Both Mortensen and Harris deliver adequate performances as the story’s two male leads, but Hurt’s supporting role is far more entertaining. Still, the strength of the film ultimately lies in the hands of Cronenberg, who manages to take classic Western archetypes and spin them into an engaging movie about modern-day violence. Cronenberg’s carefully crafted characters could just as well be action heroes in the same summer movies that forfeit emotional depth for bigger explosions, but perhaps the attention to detail is exactly what separates “A History of Violence” as a piece of cinematic excellence.
DVD Review:
The single-disc DVD release of David Cronenberg’s “A History of Violence” features a nice selection of special features including audio commentary and three featurettes. The commentary track, recorded by the director, is an excellent complement to the film itself, but it can sometimes contain too much information and not enough personality. The three featurettes, though, are perhaps the best of all the bonus material, including a comparison between the U.S. and international versions (“Violence’s History”) and a brief look at the film’s debut in the Cannes Film Festival (“Too Commercial for Cannes”). The third special, “Acts of Violence,” is a 65-minute, massive production featurette that covers just about everything surrounding the making-of the film, and is the DVD’s crowning gem. Tag on a deleted dream sequence and a short “unmaking” of that scene, and you have a pretty impressive DVD release. The film didn’t win any major awards, but it’s still one fine piece of American filmmaking.
~Jason Zingale
jzingale@bullz-eye.com