A History of Violence

[thedelihaus]

Directed by oddball director David Cronenberg (Crash, Naked Lunch, Videodrome, Scanners), I was very, very impressed with his reserved, straighforward direction (no creative and brilliant but hard to decipher moments here). The acting by Viggo Mortensen was excellent as a totally believable country-simple family man and former (possible) Philly toughneck, while Ed Harris played the perfect tough-as-nails straight-up gangster, and William Hurt pulled off a powerful, cold-blooded, conflicted loving brother and head honcho gangster. All three were exceptional in their depth and soul, and approach on the characters in the film.

Greg Bryk and Stephen McHattie play stunning sociopath killers, also in perfect form.

Maria Bello plays a great role here as well, as passionate, faithful and loving wife, full of her own confusion and conflict.

The son, played by Ashton Holmes, was one of the few weak points in the film. Not a total failure, but just not up to the other performances her, despite glimpses of quality.

Kyle Schmid as the school bully pulls it off effortlessly (though the charactor is about as deep as a wading pool), and Peter MacNeill as the small-town sherriff gets the job done.

All in all, although at times extremely violent, and with moments of gruesome beatings and killing, an excellent case study into the minds, and characters of a good collection of many types of personalities.

Kudos both to the direction of this film, and to the excellent approach of the actors.

Highly recommended, it's a smart, well-done film here.