A history of violence

Operating a diner in a small-town community, Tom Stall (Viggo Mortensen) and his wife (Maria Bello) are the picture of normalcy. But when Tom prevents a robbery and enjoys hero status in the local media, he attracts the wrong kind of attention from mobsters (Ed Harris and William Hurt) who think he's someone else. David Cronenberg (The Fly) directs this taut suspense-thriller based on the graphic novel by John Wagner and Vince Locke.

The story is marvelous and all scenes are memorable. David Cronenberg creates a well-paced violence story that unfolds bit by bit until leaving you perplex and surprised with its quality. Viggo Mortensen is the perfect person for the role given, and the film only benefits of that. The story, about a family man who kills in self-defense robbers in his coffee shop, seems kind of dull at first, but then proves to be a fancy thriller with plot twists (at least for me) and impressive scenes. The violence and the 'gangster' style sex scenece make it raunchy yet not cheap. The movie is based on a graphical novel.

What really distinguishes this mistaken-identity plot of the type "innocent-man-is-faced-with-violence-and-has-to-act" from other, similar films (Dirty Harry and many Westerns come to mind) is the way Canadian David Cronenberg manages to deconstruct the US-culture of visual violence and armed self-defense by seducing his audience to embrace that culture, to like his characters in spite of their brutal actions, to have fun and feel uncomfortable about it at the same time.

In addition to that, Cronenberg also takes his audience on a ride through the total range of human emotions from loving tenderness to blazing hatred, portraying every possible human relationship, each of which features an aspect of violence at some time – sexual relations certainly included, though those may not feature in full-length in the US theatrical versions... Man and wife, parents and children, brothers and sisters, boys and girls, old friends and young bullies – you get it all, portrayed by an excellent, carefully chosen cast of actors that manage to make their characters come realistically to life in spite of – or rather in juxtaposition to – the topical story.

Cronenberg in fact took pains to choose actors who aren't just charismatic, glamorous stars taking care of their image, but who have a reputation for embracing their roles, for being somewhat eccentric and therefore willing to go beyond the usual acting limits. Next to Viggo Mortensen, Maria Bello and Ed Harris, there is also William Hurt who appears later on as a criminal and who, quite obviously, really enjoyed his role. The final scenes between him and Mortensen are easily the most drastically violent ones in the movie. The plot in the end was a little too simple for me and that might be the reason that i would only give it a 3 out of 5.

Rating: 3/5