"Ask him, Edie, how come he's so good at killing people?"

Most of us recognize Viggo Mortensen from his role as Aragorn in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Although it was the role that gave him worldwide renown, it was certainly no where close to being his first major motion picture debut. Viggo has also had significant roles in A Perfect Murder, G.I. Jane, Crimson Tide, Carlito’s Way, Young Guns II and Witness. He’s shown that he has the chops to be a good, dramatic actor, and his latest fare, A History of Violence, is no exception. The movie itself leaves something to be desired, however.

Directed by David Cronenberg, A History of Violence tells the story of Tom Stall, a mild mannered family man and owner of a diner in a small Indiana town. After killing two would-be thieves (albeit, really bad, murdering thieves), Tom is confronted by a man who claims to know his violent past. Tom must attempt to get his life back in order while reassuring his wife and children that he is not the murdering gangster this new arrival claims he is. Or is he?

One of things that I liked about this film, aside from the intriguing plot, was that the director keeps you guessing. Right from the opening scene, Shauna and I were making assumptions and guesses that I assume the director wanted us to make. Most of them ended up being wrong, which is nice, since predictable movies can often be too, er, predictable. You never really learn the truth about the whole situation until about an hour into the film, at which point a lot still needs to be resolved concerning Tom Stall and his family.

Ed Harris (Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind) gives a chilling performance as Carl Fogarty, a disfigured mobster who claims Tom is really Joey, an equally ruthless criminal with violent tendencies. Some incredible tension is created in the film as Carl continues to push his case against Tom and his family, becoming more convincing with each scene. Figuring out whether Carl is right or not is part of the fun of A History of Violence. In either case, it almost certainly means some terrible consequences for the Stall family.

Although the plot and acting are interesting and entertaining, the film falls apart at several other stages. Maria Bello stars as Tom’s wife, and it seems like her only reason for being in the film is to provide a somewhat accomplished actress who is willing to take her clothes off. She has a knack for starring in questionably sub-par films, including Payback, The Cooler and Coyote Ugly and it doesn’t appear that A History of Violence is going to do anything to change that reputation. Although the film is designed to take a close look at a specific kind of violence in society, there are a number of scenes that simply didn’t need to be there. Some might disagree but I can certainly say that I really didn’t need to see them. Fair warning.

The film is also quite short, which I was surprised by since the plot seemed to have so much potential. That being said, I can appreciate what Cronenberg was trying to do. This is really just a short story, a small excerpt from one family’s life. I will admit that the movie does get you thinking and it’s likely that that is all Cronenberg had in mind. It’s definitely a film that makes you go ‘hmmm’, though I don’t think I’ll want it to make me go ‘hmmm’ a second time. I guess this is one of those movies that might be good to see once but is certainly not a re-watcher.

The DVD is presented in 1.85:1 Anamorphic widescreen, which always looks good on a widescreen television. I didn’t notice anything terrible or wonderful about the picture quality though, as I was too busy analyzing the film and trying to decide if I liked it or not. I’m still not sure on that one. And although the trailers might depict this as an action/thriller, you can be sure that the moments of violence are brief. Don’t get me wrong, those moments are still very, very violent. They're just short, which is probably for the best. Ultimately it's not a movie that really needs fantastic picture quality. The audio is provided via a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack which, again, is adequate enough that I didn’t notice any glaring problems, but is nothing stellar.

There are a number of bonus featurettes included on the single-disc DVD, as well as a director’s commentary and some deleted scenes. I only watched a few of the bonus features and was intrigued by some of the filmmaking stuff, but it seemed like the majority of the information concerned the philosophical issues that the movie raises. Cronenberg’s statement is that human history is rife with violence of all kinds, and this film merely takes a look at one specific instance of violence and how it affects the lives of Tom Stall and his family. There is probably some really interesting stuff in here if you’re into that sort of thing.

In the end, A History of Violence wasn’t nearly as good as I was hoping it would be. In fact, it wasn’t even the kind of film I thought it was going to be. That doesn’t necessarily mean it was a bad film, but I can’t say it was a good one either. It had a few entertaining moments and some great acting by Ed Harris, yet it still left something to be desired. There was a lot of potential that just didn’t get realized.

I’m not sure if I should recommend this one or not. Let’s just say that if you weren’t interested in seeing it, you’re not missing anything. And if you really do want to see it, consider yourself warned, but hopefully you’ll still get something out of it.

A History of Violence gets 5 bloody noses (out of 10).

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