History of Violence, A (2005, USA) C-96m. *** D: David Cronenberg. Starring Viggo Mortensen, Maria Bello, Ed Harris, William Hurt, Ashton Holmes, Peter MacNeill, Stephen McHattie. Family father Mortensen lives a peaceful life in a rural town until one night he is forced to defend himself and his coworkers at the diner when two murderers threaten their lives. The headlines he gets attract the attention of the Philadelphia mob and force him to come to terms with his past. Deliberately paced little movie draws you in quietly, provides some jolts of violence, but lets you (and itself) down a little bit in the second half. Still, a very-well acted, interesting thriller from cult director Cronenberg, based on the graphic novel by John Wagner and Vince Locke. Score by Howard Shore still seems to echo his work for THE LORD OF THE RINGS.


© Ron Altman