A History of Violence

Saw this film last night. It's very well made and well-acted (Viggo Mortensen is especially good), but I did not find it the revelation that many critics seem to have. Scanning the quotes in the Rotten Tomatoes balance of reviews, I found myself concluding that a lot of reviewers saw things in it that simply weren't there.

But, a well-made, well-acted thriller is never a waste of time, and I'm going to listen to Cronenberg's commentary before I return the DVD to see if he can convince me there is more there than meets the eye.

Another thing I did like is that when the violence comes in this film, as you know it's going to given the title, it is in no way fetishised (if that's a word). As opposed to the way it might be in a X-Men or Mission Impossible movie (and I liked the first two X-Men films, haven't seen the third).

The violence in this picture is quick, it's messy. And without lingering on it, Cronenberg makes sure we see the actual results of such violence.