A History of Violence (2005) September 1, 2007
Posted by gproject in : Recently Viewed , trackbackDirected by: David Cronenberg
My exposure to David Cronenberg’s work has been quite sporadic in nature and as a consequence there are huge gaps that I’m still waiting to fill: I’ve seen Videodrome, but not The Fly; I’ve seen eXistenZ, but not Crash. Subsequently, I’ve still not really made up my mind about whether I truly like him as a director, or whether his rather unique visions just stand out on their own. This is certainly a step in the right direction though.
The story centres around Tom Stall, a regular family man living in small-town Indiana. He becomes a local hero when he apprehends two dangerous criminals in his café, shooting them both and causing a huge stir in the town. But Tom dislikes the attention, and things only get worse when the mysterious Carl Fogarty comes to find him – or more accurately, comes to find Joey Cusack, a dangerous felon from Philadelphia. Confused about why he is being misidentified, Tom is continually harassed by Fogarty, until he is forced to take a stand to defend his family.
Based on a graphic novel by John Wagner & Vince Locke, the story is a simple one, but plays out nicely over the succinct 96-minute running time. The film also features fantastic central performances from Viggo Mortensen and Maria Bello, along with dark turns from Ed Harris and William Hurt.
It’s an interesting choice of source material and one that requires a number of decisions to be made about tone and atmosphere. The music is one aspect that purposefully makes a point of being different, with a jaunty, heroic sounding score that runs through the entire film. This plays an important part in highlighting the courageousness of Tom in the first act, and offsetting the darkness that creeps into the film as it continues.
As one of Cronenberg’s more ‘commercial’ projects, this film contains less of the bizarre imagery and unusual effects work that he is best known for. It does still include scenes of graphic violence, although they are just single shots, usually focussing on the gore a little more than your standard action drama. Besides this, the director curbs his usual peculiarities, conscious by now of respecting what works best for the film, over what people expect from him as a filmmaker.
My main point of contention watching the movie for the first time was with its ending, which can seem abrupt and unfinished if taken for face value. But after subsequent re-evaluation I actually realised that it may be a stroke of genius, albeit one that I didn’t quite latch on to. A second viewing has brought me to the conclusion that while its intention is good, the actual execution doesn’t quite hold the weight of the concept. A shame, because this is maybe the ultimate ‘so what now?’ conclusion.
The result is a tight thriller which works as both a story of human turmoil and an interesting violent drama. The narrative may be simple but that doesn’t stop excellent character performances from the main cast and an experienced directorial style from shining through. The only downside is that the story never quite engages as it should, while some plot threads, such as Jack’s bullying at school, feel slightly out of place and never fully integrate themselves into the main story. It’s still well worth catching though, regardless of what you may think of Cronenberg’s earlier work.
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I can’t believe you’ve not seen The Fly yet ! You have to see it, it’s a marvellous film.