A History of Violence

[Animal Boything]

I saw this movie mere minutes ago... what a treat. It's Cronenberg cleverly disguised as mainstream fare, and it has the combined strengths of both. It's tense and darkly funny, and explores the themes of violence and family in a thought-provoking way. The cast is amazing... I was particularly impressed with Maria Bello's performance, but it was full of great actors in interesting roles. Viggo Mortensen is by now well-established as a bankable leading man, and he did not disappoint.

I don't want to talk about the plot just yet, because it's best to see it without knowing too much, but after a few more of you have, it will be fun to discuss.

[ndrwrld]

i'm all over this.
the trailer is sweet...not too much info...just enough to pull me WAY in.

[grady]

Saw this last night and really enjoyed the film. It's very simple, and you have to tread lightly as to not give away much of the plot and the turns the film takes, but it was quite good.

[b.miller]

good. it managed to get overhyped for me in 2 days though so i'll just say good.

[grady]

good. it managed to get overhyped for me in 2 days though so i'll just say good.

It was getting overhyped for me for months along with Broken Flowers as both films gained wide acclaim and awards at the Cannes Film Festival last May. But as the hype started to grow and grow for Broken Flowers and my attempt to see it was thwarted by a full auditorium, I resigned to hold off on seeing it until it goes to the beer theaters.

As for Violence, it's a new film from David Cronenberg and I simply couldn't wait, plus the hype hadn't reached a fever pitch level that Broken Flowers seemed to so quickly.

However, who knows though. If I had missed my opportunity to see A History of Violence this weekend and then began to be bombarded by acclaim and praise, I might have backed away as well. But the hype doesn't seem to be nearly as strong for Violence as it was for Flowers.

[ffolkes]

I've been waiting for this movie for a looong time. Too long.

[Aaron Contreras]

I was seriously underwhelmed by the direction and script - specifically certain plot points. The gratuitous stairs scene was a clumsy, tacky way of expressing something pretty valid.

The bit with William Hurt was ridiculous - movie didn't need to be that long.

Very solid acting by the leads. Didn't make me think and generally felt let down.

[Skie]

This movie was a pretty big disappointment for me for the reasons Aaron has mentioned. Had it not been for the acting by the leads, I'd have probably left the theater.

[IsiliRunite]

Give Ed Harris an Oscar......again?

[adam]

I found this to be thoroughly mediocre. Plus the trailer pretty much showed the first 2/3 of the movie.

[m.g.]

Definitely one of the five best english speaking movie i saw last year...

[adam]

I think it's definitely interesting how much this movie has divided people's opinions. I haven't yet had anyone try and vocalize what they like about it, though. I mean, in any significant detail.

[m.g.]

my technical vocabulary will be... erm... very poor, sorry, but :

Very good script
Cast very well distributed
Amazing editing
Almost perfect technically (light, art design, etc...like almost all Cronenberg's movies)
...AND brilliantly directed

[adam]

See, but I felt it had nothing to say thematically (that wasn't cliched), and that the plot was almost wholly predictable (no tension). So, without tension or a thematic statement, I felt the whole thing was kind of redundant. I like Cronenberg, so I'm open to the option that I missed something, but I found it rather unengaging.

[m.g.]

Mmm... I don't agree with your "predictable (no tension)".

Even if it doesn't really seems to be done "Ã* la Cronenberg" as it was apparently an "ordered" movie (not a director's own projet), it's again about the duality of all things (people, society, country, ...), what's true, what's wrong, what's fake, can you trust appearances, is what you see real, how are the hidden parts, etc... and I think it's again perfectly done here.

And Viggo Mortensen is again amazing (anyway, since I saw The Indian Runner, I think he's one of the best actor).

[adam]

What I mean by predictable is that the preview made it out to be something and that is precisely what it turned out to be. There were no significant plot developments that the preview hadn't really revealed. Maybe if I hadn't seen the preview I would have liked it more.

I haven't seen The Indian Runner; I take it that it is worth checking out?

[b.miller]

for me, several of the "best" movies that came out last year were pretty similar in that they weren't really anything new as far as story is concerned but they were done very very well. So as exercises in execution rather than innovation, movies like A History of Violence and Match Point really excel... even if we have seen that story many times before.

For me personally, my favorite part of Violence was the violence. Cronenberg uses the gore like a scalpel in this movie... the gore is SO realistic in the very few times that it appears that it really affected me on a gut level. it's only there when it needs to be but damn if Cronenberg does use every frame to cut into you, using it to constantly re-evaluate Viggo's character. He starts off as such a docile character that, so see little details like brains on the floor and things like that (i know there's more to it than that but it's been a while since i've seen the movie...) really changes your perception of him. Of course the two sex scenes are perhaps the most revealing of the changing relationship between Viggo and Bello, but it's really in every moment of Viggo's acting that does it. From the time the lights went down I already knew how the story would end but i distinctly remember me thinking to myself "damn, there's no way this guy is a mobster" at the beginning of the film... depsite myself even. So hey, if a guy can do that then I have to give it to him.

Still though, I think the movie is more a standard story told very well than anything else. For the amount of hype it got I can see how you'd be underwhelmed with it, Adam. I had the same exact reaction to Match Point.

P.S. if you like psychological thrillers, do not i repeat DO NOT watch the trailer for Hard Candy. Just walk into it cold whenever it opens in your city. The trailer gives away a major twist in the film and while that twist does happen pretty early, I think the movie is maybe 5x better if you walk into it cold. It's a really powerful movie and well worth watching, so if you're interested at all in this kind of stuff, try to avoid the trailer before seeing it. the movie again is Hard Candy.

[m.g.]

I don't know which preview you saw... trailers, previews, billboards, titles are not the same here & there. Sometimes, even the movie is having a different editing.

Here (in France, I mean) we had only a very short trailer, as anyway I'm a Cronenberg addict, I didn't wanted to know too much about the movie when it was in Cannes festival, as I generally believe that too much trailer, promos, articles, etc... are killing movies somehow...


The Indian Runner is probably one of the best film I saw in the '90s & I think Sean Penn is most honourable as a director (and a very good actor most of the time...)

[adam]

I really enjoyed Matchpoint, and you're right about the reasons. Such a technically superb film. Loved the opening shot.

[the mongoose]

Just saw this on DVD and I loved it.

The effects are especially great and the acting isn't too shabby either.

Palm heels to the nose rock!;)

[GforGroove]

I agree about the use of violence of Cronenberg in this film. The shot of when they kill the girl sets ups eveerything to go on and beyond the violence as you know it. I also liked so much the comicesque twist.. i though while watchign the film that was weird in something.. the performance of Viggo was far too weird.. then i saw was based on a comic. excellent comeback of Cronenberg, as well as Woody allen's Matchpoint.

[grady]

I agree about the use of violence of Cronenberg in this film. The shot of when they kill the girl sets ups eveerything to go on and beyond the violence as you know it. I also liked so much the comicesque twist.. i though while watchign the film that was weird in something.. the performance of Viggo was far too weird.. then i saw was based on a comic. excellent comeback of Cronenberg, as well as Woody allen's Matchpoint.

comeback for ol' cronen-y-berg? You didn't like Spider? How about eXistenz?

[GforGroove]

i prefer 10 times A History of violence rather than Existenze and like 4 times more than Spider. I just can't dig Ralph Finnes.

[adam]

I liked Existenz. I think I'm one of the few people I know who did. People hated the ending, but I thought the ending was perfect.

Spider was meh. I like Finnes (that's not how you spell his name, is it?) though...Constant Gardener was great.

[grady]

i prefer 10 times A History of violence rather than Existenze and like 4 times more than Spider. I just can't dig Ralph Finnes.

Aww...no love for Ralph Finnes Jer? Liking Spider I guess kind of hinges on that. Despite that, the movie wasn't that great at the end of the day.