I basically loved it, it held all the promises that a small movie brings, no hype, the straight dope. And I've sorta ruined that ha

IMDB (7.6/10): A bloody self defense incident involving a mild mannered man brings his hidden past back to haunt him and his family.

The opening of the movie at the motel is quite eerie though predictable. There's a pretty daring sex scene in the beginning also, hello r rated. They show the craziest headblow ish I've ever seen, in fact the movie lives up to the "violence", so raw it made me sit up

It's really amazing to watch Mortensen act as a mild mannered guy, so subdued when he really is that crazy guy Ed Harris is coming after. I like that the trailer and publicity don't show much beyond the rural Indiana so there are still some nice surprises if anything just in terms of settings

The supporting cast is stellar, Bello has such a pretty face, I wish her body could keep up. I think the son fighting at school was meant to show that he inherited his dad's "skills". They don't explore that enough. Harris is always good, William Hurt actually gives a captivating performance, with some Al Pacino type spooky delivery. He was nominated for a supporting role Oscar. The end leaves a bit to be desired but that final scene is tense

I'm not too familiar with Cronenberg's work but there's a real simplicity with the scenes he shoots, everything is clean and yet there's so much gore throughout the movie, small constant doses of "blood and guts"

Great movie, probably the best movie no one watched in 2005


Little known fact, this is based on a comic book. Mortensen on Charlie Rose described this as his best filmmaking experience.. I'm not sure what does that say to a viewer. He's not the jolliest fella by the way

The original one-sheet was a lot more original, they b-movie'd the dvd cover for sure

Links
- reviews - History Of Violence
- blog post 1/31/2006 - 78th Oscar noms and picks

Posted	Tuesday, March 21, 2006 @ 12:02:01 AM (1025 days ago)
Tags	movie
Comments	4, last reply by daniel
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Comments

Hmmm..you make me want to get the dvd now :-D

Vicki on 3/21/2006 12:47:59 AM, 1025 days ago

hmm i duno, just rent it :-)

daniel on 3/21/2006 5:57:22 PM, 1024 days ago

Sucked.

James on 4/10/2006 1:20:59 PM, 1005 days ago

hater

daniel on 4/11/2006 9:16:59 AM, 1004 days ago

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