A History of Violence: Cronenberg Made This?
When you hear the words 'Cronenberg film' you expect a few things: amazing practical effects, horrific boundary-pushing stories, and poignant comments on humanity or society.
A History Of Violence is not typical of the Canadian director's work.
John Stall (Viggo Mortensen) has a perfect life in small-town, middle America. One night, two out-of-town thugs attempt to rob his diner. John kills the fuck out of them in self-defence and becomes an “American hero”. Unfortunately John’s former Irish mob associates see this and decide to pay him a visit.
My first thought when watching this was “this must be a low budget, in-between film for Cronenberg” because it looks terrible. It reminds me of a mid-to-late ‘90s TV film that showing on SyFy. It has not aged well at all.
Then I found out it cost thirty-two million dollars.
For context, this was released five years after O Brother, Where Art Thou had revolutionised cinematography with digital colour grading. It was four years after City Of God, one of the most gorgeous films I’ve seen, made on a fraction of the budget.
I have no idea what could’ve cost all those millions. Location? Unlikely as it was shot in Canada 1. Practical effects? There’s nothing as incredible as The Fly and that was made for half as much. I could only conclude that it must’ve been the price of securing Mortensen, fresh off Lord of The Rings fame, Ed Harris and William Hurt.
But who cares about the budget: we’re here to be told a story and the story is good. Taught, efficient, an air of menace hanging over the mundane setting. There’s not much to fault in that aspect.
It’s the presentation of the story that I have problems with.
The dialogue is rote. There are clunkers in the script, belonging mostly to the son and his bully. Thankfully their interactions are limited to three painful scenes that wouldn’t be out of place on Waterloo Road. Cronenberg supposedly rewrote the script in order to get Mortensen interested. We can only imagine what was left out.
Maria Bello, as Edie Stall, is atrocious. She’s either flat to the point of lifelessness or in theatrical hysterics. A stunning lack of nuance.
A History of Violence has a lot of critical praise. It even won a few Oscars which baffles me. What part of this typical revenge thriller stood out to critics as being amazing? If anyone watches this please let me know what aspects could be deemed Oscar-worthy.
I enjoyed it in a way. As soon as the Philadelphian mobsters arrived it picked up steam. Harris is menacing. Hurt’s performance is hilarious and absurd 2. The final scene in particular wowed me, Mortensen’s acting drawing a gasp from me.
If you can get past the fact it feels ninety percent cheaper than it is, A History of Violence is an average drama that explores the American Dream and its ugly side.
Come for the gore, stay for the broheems.
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