A History of Violence
When a pair of petty criminals attempt to rob his small-town diner, Tom Stall (Viggo Mortensen) quickly and easily kills them both, which sets off repercussions that will shake his family to its very core.
3 February 1947, Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada
3 August 1984, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
February 3, 1947 in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada
28 November 1950, Tenafly, New Jersey, USA
17 February 1978, Albany, New York, USA
18 April 1967, Norristown, Pennsylvania, USA
December 10, 2015
Hopefully [it will] encourage a sobering sense of responsibility and a more truthful perspective on identities (individual and national).
November 07, 2012
With A History Of Violence, Cronenberg uses the pulp gangster genre - as opposed to, say, sci-fi horror -- to draw us into a dialogue on our relationship as voyeurs to violence, both real and cinematic.
April 15, 2013
This peculiarly predictable picture has been calculated, or miscalculated, to set up certain expectations, fulfill them, and then do the same thing again, thereby giving us a chance to see what's coming and, at least in theory, be shocked.
August 16, 2010
While it weakens in its final stretch...A History of Violence succeeds enormously thanks to the strength of its direction and performances.
October 07, 2005
The film, based on a graphic novel, has a crackling sense of visual tension.
April 15, 2013
Cronenberg's direction, mirroring the split in Tom, is alternately measured and frighteningly explosive, and, as always, he gives the movie a nasty underlay of sexual perversity.
October 02, 2005
A model of clean, lean storytelling.
May 12, 2006
A remarkably convincing examination of heroism, hero worship, and the seductive allure of villainy.
October 04, 2013
A fascinating exercise in cinematic restraint resulting in a captivating, not to be missed film.
June 23, 2010
A truly entertaining and engrossing study of violence, family, and our pasts eventually coming back to haunt us...
April 15, 2013
The less you know about this movie before seeing it -- and you really should see it -- the better.
April 20, 2011
Without conceding any of his iconoclastic vision, Cronenberg has turned a genre film with classic Western overtones into a gripping psychological drama that examines the duality of man and his infatuation with the art of violence.
