'A History of Violence' an intense thriller
“A History of Violence” is a film rarity. It’s an effective thriller full of captivating twists and turns. But it’s also a movie that’s about character that raises all kinds of thought-provoking issues, asking whether what we think we know to be true really is, whether people really can change and wondering what it really means to forgive.
Directed by David Cronenberg, “A History of Violence” is one of his more mainstream films, joining “The Fly” and “Dead Ringers” as works that are crowd-pleasing while being as intellectually challenging as his “Spider” and “Naked Lunch.”
The film is based on the graphic novel by John Wagner and Vince Locke and, as adapted by screenwriter Josh Olson and Cronenberg, joins “Sin City” as the most effective comic books that have come to the screen this year.
It stars Viggo Mortensen in a career-making performance, taking him from “Lord of the Rings” hero into far more complex territory.
He plays Tom Stall, the owner of a diner in a small Indiana town. Married to lawyer Edie (Maria Bello), he’s got a couple of kids — teenage son Jack (Ashton Holmes) and little girl Sarah (Heidi Hayes) — and is a quiet, but well-respected man in the town.
Then a pair of rampaging killers wander into his diner at closing time, ready to hold up the place and slaughter those who get in their way. Suddenly mild-mannered Tom explodes into action, using a coffeepot and some quick moves to dispatch the intruders — permanently. His actions make him a hero in the small town and, once the news gets out, across the country.
The last thing Tom wants is TV cameras in his face. But he can’t avoid them. Shortly after his face is splashed across the nation, the diner gets another set of threatening visitors — a Philadelphia thug named Carl Fogarty (Ed Harris) and his bodyguards. Fogarty calls Tom “Joey,” claiming that the mild- mannered restaurateur is really a gangster in hiding.
That’s about all the plot description that’s necessary or fair to set up “A History of Violence.” The question of who Tom really is, is at the core of the picture, and it impacts all those around him.
Those impacted include the disfigured Fogarty, whom Harris plays with a menacing darkness; a character named Richie Cusack, played by William Hurt in an unforgettable, if brief appearance; the local sheriff; and, of course, Tom’s family.
In playing out that conflict, Bello holds her own with the quietly intense Mortensen, delivering her best on-screen performance yet. Edie doesn’t know what to think — she wants to believe her husband, but she can’t ignore what has happened. That sets up a troubling near-violent sex scene as Cronenberg works in his stock-in-trade, creating disturbing images and feelings that you can’t and don’t want to ignore.
Appropriately, the violence in “A History of Violence” comes in flashes and only in a few places. That’s how such violence takes place in real life as opposed to the stylized variety of the movies that desensitizes viewers to more gruesome reality.
Again, Cronenberg is unflinching in his portrayal of that violence and of the characters’ reaction to it. But “A History of Violence” is about more than just the shootings shown on screen.
Rather, it asks whether an individual can indeed have a “history of violence” that, finally, cannot be suppressed, whether violence is an inevitable result of certain conflicts and whether it is simply innate in man. That’s far more than most thrillers bring to the screen and it’s why “A History of Violence” is a film that leaves an impact in the mind.
Reach L. Kent Wolgamott at 473-7244 or kwolgamott@journalstar.com.
A History of Violence
**** (out of four stars)
Director: David Cronenberg
Stars: Viggo Mortensen, Maria Bello, William Hurt, Ed Harris.
Rated: R for brutal violence, graphic sexuality, nudity, language and some drug use.
Now showing: Grand, SouthPointe
The reel story: This thriller stars Mortensen as a small-town hero pursued by big city mobsters. The film asks questions that make it deeper than most pictures of the genre.
Directed by David Cronenberg, “A History of Violence” is one of his more mainstream films, joining “The Fly” and “Dead Ringers” as works that are crowd-pleasing while being as intellectually challenging as his “Spider” and “Naked Lunch.”
The film is based on the graphic novel by John Wagner and Vince Locke and, as adapted by screenwriter Josh Olson and Cronenberg, joins “Sin City” as the most effective comic books that have come to the screen this year.
It stars Viggo Mortensen in a career-making performance, taking him from “Lord of the Rings” hero into far more complex territory.
He plays Tom Stall, the owner of a diner in a small Indiana town. Married to lawyer Edie (Maria Bello), he’s got a couple of kids — teenage son Jack (Ashton Holmes) and little girl Sarah (Heidi Hayes) — and is a quiet, but well-respected man in the town.
Then a pair of rampaging killers wander into his diner at closing time, ready to hold up the place and slaughter those who get in their way. Suddenly mild-mannered Tom explodes into action, using a coffeepot and some quick moves to dispatch the intruders — permanently. His actions make him a hero in the small town and, once the news gets out, across the country.
The last thing Tom wants is TV cameras in his face. But he can’t avoid them. Shortly after his face is splashed across the nation, the diner gets another set of threatening visitors — a Philadelphia thug named Carl Fogarty (Ed Harris) and his bodyguards. Fogarty calls Tom “Joey,” claiming that the mild- mannered restaurateur is really a gangster in hiding.
That’s about all the plot description that’s necessary or fair to set up “A History of Violence.” The question of who Tom really is, is at the core of the picture, and it impacts all those around him.
Those impacted include the disfigured Fogarty, whom Harris plays with a menacing darkness; a character named Richie Cusack, played by William Hurt in an unforgettable, if brief appearance; the local sheriff; and, of course, Tom’s family.
In playing out that conflict, Bello holds her own with the quietly intense Mortensen, delivering her best on-screen performance yet. Edie doesn’t know what to think — she wants to believe her husband, but she can’t ignore what has happened. That sets up a troubling near-violent sex scene as Cronenberg works in his stock-in-trade, creating disturbing images and feelings that you can’t and don’t want to ignore.
Appropriately, the violence in “A History of Violence” comes in flashes and only in a few places. That’s how such violence takes place in real life as opposed to the stylized variety of the movies that desensitizes viewers to more gruesome reality.
Again, Cronenberg is unflinching in his portrayal of that violence and of the characters’ reaction to it. But “A History of Violence” is about more than just the shootings shown on screen.
Rather, it asks whether an individual can indeed have a “history of violence” that, finally, cannot be suppressed, whether violence is an inevitable result of certain conflicts and whether it is simply innate in man. That’s far more than most thrillers bring to the screen and it’s why “A History of Violence” is a film that leaves an impact in the mind.
Reach L. Kent Wolgamott at 473-7244 or kwolgamott@journalstar.com.
A History of Violence
**** (out of four stars)
Director: David Cronenberg
Stars: Viggo Mortensen, Maria Bello, William Hurt, Ed Harris.
Rated: R for brutal violence, graphic sexuality, nudity, language and some drug use.
Now showing: Grand, SouthPointe
The reel story: This thriller stars Mortensen as a small-town hero pursued by big city mobsters. The film asks questions that make it deeper than most pictures of the genre.
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