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Average User Score: 8 (70 sources)

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iloveamericantv

-1

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This was just wierd not sure at all if i liked it! I mean it was a fantastic storyline just a weird way it played out and not at all what I was expecting. Couple of things that just didn't make sense such as:
The really random sex scenes:...
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This was just wierd not sure at all if i liked it! I mean it was a fantastic storyline just a weird way it played out and not at all what I was expecting. Couple of things that just didn't make sense such as:
The really random sex scenes: one minute he's gonna kill with his had around her throat and then they started to kiss?! Just really really strange and quiet as in its nice and sedate, explodes then back to sedate!

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Posted jul 30, 2007 12:46 am pt

jokipper

-1

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I'll be in the minority here, but there were so many things that I didn't like about this movie. First off, the story was totally predictable and without suspense....everything happened just as I expected, even the ending. All things considered,...
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I'll be in the minority here, but there were so many things that I didn't like about this movie. First off, the story was totally predictable and without suspense....everything happened just as I expected, even the ending. All things considered, the story is a bit of fluff (I think Matt Wagner's writing hit a high point in the early issues of Grendel and it was downhill after that) that's pumped up in a Tarentino style but without Tarentino's sensibilities.
Second, the production is just so slick and Hollywood, it's annoying. If Cronenberg has a camera crane rented for the day, then he's sure as heck gonna use it like a rented car, until the motor burns out. At times, the shots are just plain pretentious...Cronenberg makes a big deal out of the opening scene being a continuous four-minute shot, but in reality, it's a plodding waste of film in which nothing much happens at all...anyone could film a sequence like that. Dave, you're not Hitchcock, so consider editing scenes like this into shape before letting it out.
Third, I'm very weary of Cronenberg's twisted depictions of sex. The first steamy scene involves the couple roleplaying as cheerleader and nerd. Hey, let's all talk our companions into doing that, heh heh! Of course, Cronenberg seems quite proud of the particular act he shows them engaging in...yep Dave, you're the first to film that, except for a million porno films that came out before this. And then, there's the scene on the stairway. Cronenberg loves to mix sex scenes with violence (he does in almost every film), and it's just creepy in an unintended way. Cronenberg seems to be doing this just for shock value, something that most other directors grow out of early in their careers. When John Waters offers a fetish act to the viewer, it's done as a joke and the viewer laughs along...but when Cronenberg does it, it's dead serious and pervertedly lewd, and he seems to have an unabated passion for it.

On the positive side, the acting is very, very good, and the action scenes are well-done (although the action sequences do use a lot of quick cuts, as if Cronenberg isn't too sure about them.)

Ultimately, I can see how a lot of people like this flick, despite the trips and failures that I personally perceive. But, this movie tries to be something that it's not, tries so hard that I can only think of it as a failure, and I'm disgusted at what it really is, beneath all of the big-budget gloss. I'm really tired of Cronenberg's pretentious, perverted films...I swear, I'm never going to watch another one.

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Posted jul 3, 2007 7:08 pm pt

Fwirrel

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A really good movie for what it was. Viggo did a great job acting and the story was pretty good also. It's just not my type of movie, but it was really good for what it was.

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Posted jun 7, 2007 7:53 am pt

konichiwa21

-1

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+ cool way to unfold the story
+ great action scenes

- random as hell sex scenes
- the characters and story mostly don't make any sense at all - the worst dvd cover ever !

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Posted apr 29, 2007 11:05 am pt

Yagr_Zero

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Viggo Mortensen stars in A History of Violence, a thriller by David Cronenberg. A History of Violence is a great movie as you're trying to figure out who exactly Mortensen's character is, and it also serves as a showing for small towns. The film...
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Viggo Mortensen stars in A History of Violence, a thriller by David Cronenberg. A History of Violence is a great movie as you're trying to figure out who exactly Mortensen's character is, and it also serves as a showing for small towns. The film opens up with a bang showing a couple of ruthless robbers gun people down at a motel, and then moves on to Tom Stall (Mortensen) who's a diner owner in a small Midwestern town. He lives a nice quiet life with a family, but all that shatters when two men enter his cafe at night and Tom ends up killing them both. Being branded a hero, he attracts the attention of a mob boss (Ed Harris) who firmly believes that Tom isn't who he claims to be. Cronenberg does a great job in building the tension in Tom Stall's family as they try to also figure out who Tom is, does he have a past or is he merely being mistaken. The acting is superb, and the final confrontation is shocking. Overall, A History of Violence is a fantastic movie. It may be a little too slow for action fans, but for those looking for a great movie, you've found it.

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Posted apr 16, 2007 6:35 am pt

LostZuko

-1

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Amazing movie. It was one of the best I have ever seen, Viggo Mortensen is a phenomenal actor. After seeing Lord of The Rings, he was one of my favorite actors, and to see him in this..he was just amazing. He is one of the best actors today. The...
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Amazing movie. It was one of the best I have ever seen, Viggo Mortensen is a phenomenal actor. After seeing Lord of The Rings, he was one of my favorite actors, and to see him in this..he was just amazing. He is one of the best actors today. The film itself, the plot was intriguing and the way the characters are made just make the movie a whole lot better.

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Posted mar 16, 2007 12:20 am pt

shotime1979

-1

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Very good movie, Viggo Mortensen breaks through, and out of the Lord of the Rings typecast in this role. It's an extremely violent movie, that doesn't bother me though. I thought it was very good, would like to seen more of William Hurt's...
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Very good movie, Viggo Mortensen breaks through, and out of the Lord of the Rings typecast in this role. It's an extremely violent movie, that doesn't bother me though. I thought it was very good, would like to seen more of William Hurt's character although, and David Cronenberg does a great job at directing. 10/10.

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Posted feb 26, 2007 10:19 am pt

amauriel

-1

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Viggo Mortensen was phenomenal in the lead role of "A History of Violence." The movie, while not as good as the book, was really a wonderful and very powerful thriller. All Tom wanted to do was stay alive. See what transpires after he...
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Viggo Mortensen was phenomenal in the lead role of "A History of Violence." The movie, while not as good as the book, was really a wonderful and very powerful thriller. All Tom wanted to do was stay alive. See what transpires after he killing of 2 bank robbers.

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Posted feb 23, 2007 4:16 am pt

NoOneIsAlone

-1

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I think that this movie was great. It had the great performace of Viggo Montarsen, who plays Aragorn in Lord of the Rings, and with him in the movie it makes it so much better. I think that it was something different from what I am used to watch,...
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I think that this movie was great. It had the great performace of Viggo Montarsen, who plays Aragorn in Lord of the Rings, and with him in the movie it makes it so much better. I think that it was something different from what I am used to watch, and I also think that this movie was really cool! The plot was great and it sort of reflects us what most people feel when they make these kind of things. Great movie!

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Posted feb 12, 2007 12:00 pm pt

• [+] Rolling Stone
  
  100
  Other films this year will have to sweat bullets to match the explosive power and subversive wit of David Cronenberg's A History of Violence. It slams you like a body punch and then starts messing with your head.

  by Peter Travers | Read Full Review »
• [+] The New York Times
  
  100
  A masterpiece of indirection and pure visceral thrills, David Cronenberg's latest mindblower, A History of Violence, is the feel-good, feel-bad movie of the year.

  by Manohla Dargis | Read Full Review »
• [+] USA Today
  
  100
  Violence is in the spirit of the hardest-hitting film noir offerings from the '50s, but far more explicit. It's also in the spirit of the Western.

  by Mike Clark | Read Full Review »
• [+] Chicago Reader
  
  100
  This masterpiece, an art film deftly masquerading as a thriller, seems to celebrate small-town pastoralism and critique big-city violence, but this position turns out to be double-edged.

  by Jonathan Rosenbaum | Read Full Review »
• [+] Entertainment Weekly
  
  100
  David Cronenberg's brilliant movie -- without a doubt one of the very best of the year.

  by Lisa Schwarzbaum | Read Full Review »
• [+] Film Threat
  
  100
  This is definitely not your typical Cronenberg. No matter if you either love his cinematic oddities, or if you're put off by them, watching A History of Violence would prove beneficial. It's no doubt one of the best films of the year.

  by Michael Ferraro | Read Full Review »
• [+] Portland Oregonian
  
  91
  It's Cronenberg's most mainstream work, and yet it has all the power of his creepiest nightmares.

  by Shawn Levy | Read Full Review »
• [+] Salon.com
  
  90
  Although Josh Olson's script was originally based on a graphic novel by John Wagner and Vince Locke, it has now unmistakably become a Cronenberg movie, and one of his finest.

  by Andrew O'Hehir | Read Full Review »
• [+] Los Angeles Times
  
  90
  A ticking time bomb of a movie, a gripping, incendiary, casually subversive piece of work that marries pulp watchability with larger concerns without skipping a beat.

  by Kenneth Turan | Read Full Review »
• [+] LA Weekly
  
  90
  Cronenberg holds up a mirror, but he leaves it up to us to recoil at what we see.

  by Scott Foundas | Read Full Review »
• [+] Village Voice
  
  90
  Cronenberg's movie manages to have its cake and eat it--impersonating an action flick in its staccato mayhem while questioning these violent attractions every step of the way.

  by J. Hoberman | Read Full Review »
• [+] Austin Chronicle
  
  89
  A History of Violence poses the right question: Are those who don't study history doomed to repeat it?

  by Marjorie Baumgarten | Read Full Review »
• [+] Miami Herald
  
  88
  It's a punchy, straight-up genre picture, a crime drama that might have once starred Charles Bronson or Steven Seagal.

  by Rene Rodriguez | Read Full Review »
• [+] Boston Globe
  
  88
  The film has the perverse intelligence of Cronenberg's other movies. It's not his best, but it is certainly his most accessible, least stagy work, obeying the laws of chronology and serving up characters whom we recognize as people.

  by Wesley Morris | Read Full Review »
• [+] The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
  
  88
  From its quiet opening sequence to its silent final shot, everything about A History of Violence is deceptive, and deceptively simple.

  by Rick Groen | Read Full Review »