Movie Review: A History of Violence

A History of Violence

There is apparently not much of a publicity budget for A History of Violence. I see a couple of movies every weekend, and saw a grand total of one trailer for the film. I don't recall having seen any TV commercials for it (though I don't watch vast amounts of television). What I did see was a stellar review of the film and the level of acting in it in People magazine. Given that People's critic hates far more movies than she loves (I've often privately wondered if Leah Rozen actually likes movies at all), I figured it was worth a look. Besides, it was a Rozen review that got me to see Memento, a movie I'd never have given a second glance if not for her and which I consider one of the best movies ever made. A History of Violence, however, turned into a sort of mixed movie bag, at least for me.

The film opens with a pair of bizarrely lackadaisical men checking out of a small town motel. What they leave behind them when they go, however, serves in the strongest possible terms to prove that the pair aren't so much calm as they are sociopathic. As the pair wend their way through the Midwest, the scene changes to that of a small town diner in Indiana where owner Tom Stall (Viggo Mortensen) serves up a great cup of coffee and typical small town conversation and camaraderie.

Tom and his lawyer wife, Edie (Maria Bello) live just outside of town in an old farm house with their two children, Jack (Ashton Holmes) and Sarah (Heidi Hayes). Their marriage is a good one; their teenaged son has some trouble in school with a bully, but it's nothing beyond what you'd see in countless small town high schools across the country. In short, the family is entirely ordinary in just about every way. But then the traveling men show up in Tom's diner and threaten him and his patrons. Seeing a momentary opening in the tense situation, Tom takes action and suddenly finds himself a local hero with his praises sung and his face broadcast in newscasts across the area.

Tom modestly shrugs off all of the attention and says he just wants to go back to his quiet life; his wife, though proud of him, agrees. But as the reporters finally leave, three men in a shiny black car show up, complete with a menacing aura and unbelievable claims. Carl Fogerty (Ed Harris) is one of those men. Horribly scarred and with only one good eye, the soft-spoken Fogerty approaches Tom as if he knows him. Calling him "Joey," Fogerty tells Tom that he just wants to talk about Philadelphia and something that happened there in the past.

Tom tries not to offend the man even as he just wants him to go away. But even his wife begins to wonder what's going on when she reflects on just how handily her husband disarmed the men who tried to rob his diner, and her fears of the men who seem to follow her and her family everywhere only make her doubts all the greater. While Tom struggles to preserve his quiet life and to protect his family, more and more secrets come to be revealed and even he begins to wonder just how all he knows and loves will survive.

His personal politics aside, I love Viggo Mortensen. I can't imagine another man in his role in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and I thought his portrayal of Frank Hopkins in Hidalgo was spot on. As Tom Stall, Mortensen is also very good. Despite a restrained demeanor, he somehow conveys a panicked struggle just below the surface of his character that gives reality and dimension to the performance. Maria Bello is all right though she has little to do but be angry or afraid. Ed Harris is, as always, just brilliant; William Hurt, though limited by a small role, is terrific. Ashton Holmes, who is making his movie debut in A History of Violence, does himself proud as a boy who must face his demons even as his father is facing some of his own.

The story told by A History of Violence is compelling to say the least (it's based on the graphic novel by John Wagner and Vince Locke) The real shortcomings of A History of Violence lie in the script that conveys that story. The movie moves very slowly at times as it works to establish the very ordinariness of characters who are about to have their mostly uninteresting (except to them, of course) lives turned upside down. While I appreciate that the writer is drawing some contrast between now and later for us by doing so, the time spent was just too long and as a result there were substantial stretches of time when the movie dragged. It also appeared that, while the graphic violence in the film was shown with real purpose, one of two relatively graphic sex scenes was entirely gratuitous and as such was more an interruption than anything else.

A History of Violence is a relatively short movie clocking in at just over 90 minutes. It seemed much longer than that. When a movie is billed as a psychological thriller (and it could have been), it should have been over before we knew it. It wasn't. I saw the film with a friend and her kids. When the lights came up at the end of the show, her 19 year-old said, "That is the worst movie I have ever seen." No, it's not the worst. But it certainly could have been better and, in fact, deserved to be.

FAMILY SUITABILITY: A History of Violence is rated R for "strong brutal violence, graphic sexuality, nudity, language, [and] some drug use." This is not a movie for children or for adults who are upset by blood and gore. Some death scenes are very graphic; the sex, too, is well beyond what younger viewers should see. A couple of the performances are well worth seeing for those who appreciate such things; if you're willing to endure the slow scenes (and there are too many), there is a substantial pay-off waiting for you as the movie progresses. The question, however, is whether or not you're willing to wait for it. I was; my friend and her kids were unequivocally not.