A History of Violence (2005) Review

A History of Violence (2005)

A History of Violence follows Tom Stall, who, after dispatching two criminals in his diner and becoming a local hero, finds that his past isn’t yet dead, forcing him to resurrect the killer inside of him. 

David Cronenberg, for all his merits, has admittedly always been a filmmaker willing to sacrifice elements of a film in service to the larger story to be told. A History of Violence is no different. For all of its brutality, this is a quiet movie. One of secrets, of sacrifice, and of one’s identity, as Tom seeks to shelve an old life for another. But for all it’s promise, and led by a fresh off the successes of LOTR, Viggo Mortensen, this is a film that seems so concerned with subverting genre expectations, that it never quite hits its desired mark.

It’s ambition is relatively clear, Tom has a secret past, that though he has escaped from, comes back to haunt him and his family, sending him down a path to do whatever it takes to protect them. And in reality, it would be completely fine had he stayed in his quiet little podunk town, unleashing vengeance on the people threatening him and his family. But a History of Violence doesn’t do that, does it? It, three times, ends the arc it embarks down, killing the men from the beginning, to then turn around and kill what is assumed to be the big bad who comes knocking in their absence, and only then, does it supplant us from the story and its environment to take a field trip to Philly and finish the job with killing his brother (for what reason, we’ll probably never know). 

We get a rather iffy cast, starring Peter MacNeill, Greg Bryk, Stephen McHattie, William Hurt, Ashton Holmes, Ed Harris, Maria Bello, and Viggo Mortensen. If there is one bright spot of this whole movie, it’s Viggo Mortensen, who despite an abysmal script, remains wholly believable as a man caught between two lives, with a dormant killer inside of him just waiting to be unleashed. 

A History of Violence, directed by David Cronenberg, never truly knows what it wants to be, lacking in any distinguishable Cronenberg-y elements, while gifting us with a horrible script of small town clichés and random bullshit that leaves this film with much to be desired. 

5.8/10