A History of Violence (2005)

It's rare to see the kind of acting that keeps your attention span these days. This is one of those films you just want to pop the play button without reading too many reviews. Nothing short of a raw array of emotions are displayed inside these frames. A nice touch of gore that isn't too overbearing, just enough to keep things interesting. After all, the title does include the word violence.With that being said, I definitely consider this to be an adult only film because the subtle leads into the murder and sex scenes are just bittersweet. Some very powerful acting within the nuclear family packing a punch on execution in portraying the complexities between chaos and peace.The polarities were sinfully good, enough to make you wonder who the director was.

This movie is hard to watch not because of the graphic violence on screen but because of the consequences of the violence, it is a reflection of our real history of violence (wars, terrorism, murder etc.) and the unstoppable nature of violence, once violence starts it affects all of us and it spreads and makes all of us become animalistic. The two flaws i have with this movie are the child acting and the overly cheesy first half hour that took me out of the movie but other than that the movie is harsh and real and it unexpectedly got under my skin, simply great.

Predictable from a to z, that's why i give a 4, it's a hapsnatch precooked predigested story for a very lazy,for USA probably, public. very disappointing, cliché sleeping pill full of stereotypes....bla bla bla. ...even their sexual relationship turning kinky,is so predictable....i hoped for surprises and some depth,but none of that. Bad film.( PS: I'm a big lover of 'rêal' Cronenberg: The Brood, Dead Ringers, Naked Lunch,Crash, etc, and don't appreciate his latest try-outs at all, specially his Hollywood escapades like this one or the screaming J. Moore. Eastern Promises was okay though.:)

I admire the director Cronenberg and like most of his works, but A History of Violence is not about violence, it is exploitation of violence in sick, disgusting manner. There is something wrong with the way of handling violence and sex of this film. Even the sex scenes between the couple is somehow different, crude and nasty. In real life, it is OK maybe, but the question is what is the point? If it is to show us the passion between them, there are lots of ways to do that. I think this movie is an example of violence porn. The movie starts out well with a powerful opening scene, good atmosphere like a modern Western, amazing villains, but then it turns into a nasty B movie in the end. I love B movies from 90s and 80s especially, but it doesn't fit here. The cinematography here is very well done, Ed Harris was the real star of the movie for me. However, our anti hero and his origin story don't work because of all those sickness and sadism and it is like the movie glorifies his nasty actions and probably want us to accept his acts and root for him. The story with memory loss or secret identity themes make no sense here. Sorry, but this movie is not Total Recall which is a real masterpiece. The man who appears in the final act doesn't add anything to the story in spite of that great actor who was wasted here. The final act that reminds you a bad B movie is another violence porn, softer this time. Our anti hero is not another manly man unfortunately. His violent actions cause some sick and sadistic moments, so what would you do if your anti hero is a hateful man? I was with Ed Harris's character though. By the way, I disagree with the idea that A History of Violence is a deep or thought provoking film. This film is no Shakespeare, it is like a violent action movie for video with some great actors and good cinematography. I enjoyed some parts, but overall I was disgusted. One final word, I think Eastern Promises is a better film.