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

Deirdre Bowen

Cale Boyter

Howard Shore

Josh Braun

Roger Kass

Carol Spier

David Cronenberg

Kent Alterman

Justis Greene

Toby Emmerich

Chris Bender

J.C. Spink

Josh Olson

Peter Suschitzky

Ronald Sanders

Peter Nicolakakos

Jake Weiner

James McAteer

Denise Cronenberg

Takashi Seida

Karen Elliott

Jennifer Dunnington

Orest Sushko

Heather Meehan

Mark Zsifkovits

Michael O'Farrell

John Stoneham Jr.

Dug Rotstein

Wayne Griffin

Mary-Lou Green-Benvenuti

Clive Turner

Christian T. Cooke

Gordon Lebredt

Ciara Brennan

Dennis Berardi

Fiona Campbell Westgate

Stephan Dupuis

Gordon White

Aaron Weintraub

John Furniotis

Duane Rutkowski

Dave Van Zeyl

Duncan McLeod

Chad Camilleri

Walter Gasparovic

Greg DaPrato

Peter Sissakis

Bryan J. Thomas

Christopher McGuire

Chris Pizzarelli

Michael Iwan

Jodi A. Tario

Patricia Cowmeadow

Vince Locke

Dusty Reeves

Scotty Allan

David Yonson

David Neil Trifunovich

Luisa Cabbidu

Alastair Gray

Don White

Andy Malcolm

Candide Franklyn

Zameret Kleiman

John Wagner

Chris Navarro

Glen Gauthier

Deryck Blake

Goro Koyama

Colin McLellan

Matthew McKenzie

Glenn Hughes

Drama

Thriller

Crime

A History of Violence

New Line Cinema

BenderSpink

Media I! Filmproduktion München & Company

Canada

Germany

United Kingdom

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

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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