A History of Violence ★★★½
CANADIAN director David Cronenberg is predominantly known for his horror films, but he has also made two terrific thrillers.
Both A History of Violence, released in 2005, and 2007’s Eastern Promises are tough, uncompromising films that explore the nature of violence and how people react to the need for violent action and its impacts. Both films also star the under-rated Viggo Mortensen.
A History of Violence is based on a graphic novel and starts in noir fashion with two shady characters preparing to leave the hotel at which they have presumably stayed the previous night. One man, who seems to be the leader, mentions he had some trouble with the manager. The other man has to return inside to fill a water bottle and is non-plussed at seeing a body lying in a pool of blood. We immediately know these are guys not to be messed with.
Mortensen plays Tom Stall, the mild-mannered owner of a small-town diner in the fictional town of Millbrook, Indiana. Tom is married to Edie, played by Maria Bello, and they have a teenage son Jack and younger daughter Sarah.
That night Tom and his staff are finishing up with a few regular customers when the two mysterious men from the start of the film arrive. They demand to be served even though Tom explains they are about to close.
Guns are pulled and, in one of the sudden explosions of violence that mark the film, Tom kills both men in self-defence. He is thrust into the limelight and hailed a hero in news bulletin that end up on metropolitan television. In keeping with his character, Tom appears embarrassed by the attention.
The diner is bustling thanks to Tom’s fame when in walk three men dressed in dark suits and sunglasses. The scarred Carl Fogarty insists that Tom is actually a professional hitman named Joey Cusack from Philadelphia and his old bosses want to renew acquaintances. Tom insist they have the wrong man but Carl is adamant.
The events that follow change the family’s lives forever, forcing Tom, Edie and Jack to deal with the nature of masculinity and its relationship to violence. The presentation and dissection of this theme doesn’t take over the film which maintains a stripped-back, violent noir thriller throughout its 90-odd minute running time.
The editing is particularly of note, constantly helping to build and hold tension before surprising the audience. There is a specific moment when all we see is a sudden change of expression on Tom’s face that encapsulates everything we need to know about his character in the moment that he realises both he and his son may have crossed a line that he was dreading.
Mortensen and Bello have great chemistry together, even in the strong sex scenes that could be considered out of place but actually tell us a lot about both characters and their genders.
The film also features two great supporting performances, from William Hurt and the great Ed Harris, as the gangsters Tom is forced to eventually confront.
Noir doesn’t come much tougher than this one.