i didn't realise this was a Cronenberg movie until after it had finished. in fact, i didn't know much about the movie at all, but after some good recommendations from friends i was quite looking forward to it. rest assured, from now on, i will never listen to another word those friends say regarding movies! the only way i can describe this picture without swearing is a mess... in fact, it was so bad it encouraged me to sign up to IMDb so i could express just how painful an experience watching 'a history of violence' was!<br /><br />the film started (by this i mean the opening scene) promisingly i thought, with a nice long drawn-out opening shot and some distant, spacey acting. it also hinted somewhat of the nastiness to come. the quality of the film then immediately reared its head in the following 'child wakes up from nightmare' scene...<br /><br />(possible SPOILER, but of the most minimal kind)<br /><br />Aragorn/Viggo Mortensen - 'did you have a bad dream Sarah?' <br /><br />pointless daughter character - 'yes i did daddy' <br /><br />(son wakes up, enters pointless daughter's room) <br /><br />bland son - 'what's going on?' <br /><br />Aragorn -'Sarah had a bad dream son' <br /><br />bland son - 'oh no dad'<br /><br />(mother/bird from ER/that terrible movie where they dance on the bar enters pointless daughter's room) <br /><br />bird from ER - 'what's the matter honey? did you have a bad dream?' <br /><br />pointless daughter character (visibly getting bored now by the sheer length of the scene) - 'yes mommy, i'm going to sleep with the light on' <br /><br />all - 'what a great idea!'<br /><br />now, does a scene like this really need to last what feels like over three minutes?! i understand that Cronenberg's attempting to set up a semblance of the family's quiet life and how much love they have each other, but surely there are more subtle ways than this? now, i also realise that some may say Cronenberg often favours the more direct approach and tries to test his audience with occasional bouts of realism straight out of a comic book, but i'm sorry, just because he has built up a reputation of doing things this way (which on many occasions i've hugely enjoyed), does not mean he get away with sheer sloppiness of this magnitude. i thought 'Spider' was a great example of Cronenberg occasionally approaching his subject matter from a more 'considered' perspective, but precious little of that subtlety is on display in 'a history of violence'.<br /><br />the acting, i also thought, was below par. Mortensen was okay, though it seemed like he was repeating every other sentence that came out of his mouth. perhaps this is trying to portray Tom talking for his own benefit as well as others, convincing himself of that things he's saying are right & for the best, but even if that is the case it just came off as downright annoying. Maria Bello should stay on TV, Ed Harris was... well, Ed Harris, and William Hurt - what's the big deal? he was on screen for all of five minutes and at no point during that period of time did i see him do or say anything of worth or, as some have suggested, amusement. he should have stayed on the set of 'lost in space'.<br /><br />now, the violence and sexual content. put simply, i really didn't care. not at one moment in the movie did i feel any emotional contact with any of the characters' violent actions (and their reasons for committing them) save for - SPOILER - the son knocking the crap out of his tormentor at school, and that was simply because throughout i found the bully character so utterly pathetic and laughable that for all i cared he might as well have been put in hospital. END SPOILER - none of the violence really offended me. sure i was shocked in a few places, but that was simply because within a matter of seconds - SPOILER - one of the 'bad guys' had the front of his face hanging off. END SPOILER - so in this respect, Cronenberg doesn't hold back with, or indeed glamorise the violence, and certainly shows the immediacy and horror of it all, but to be honest, so what? it's hardly a difficult task to accomplish, especially for someone of Cronenberg's abilities. some of the sexual content also struck me as crass. SPOILER - now, don't get me wrong, i'm always down for Maria Bello with a completely untied dressing gown (in fact i waited what felt like years for that to happen in ER), but, in the context of the film, for the love of god WHY? so her and Aragorn get busy on the stairs in an odd 'what's going to happen' moment, then he's sitting in the bedroom, she comes out naked, closes her dressing gown and runs away in disgust. so now they can't have sex anymore. END SPOILER - does Cronenberg regard his audience as complete morons? or was there really no other way to indicate Maria Bello's feelings towards Mortensen's character? on this evidence, David Cronenberg is turning into Paul Verhoeven sans the wit.<br /><br />i don't often say this about movies, but going to see 'a history of violence' felt like a waste of money. usually there's something in a film i can invest in, be it a character, the cinematography or even the score, something that actually going to the movies really accentuates, but this picture had none of the aforementioned redeeming features. that said, i probably wouldn't let other people's opinions form a basis on whether i shouldn't bother seeing a movie. all i'm saying is, if you have to satisfy your curiosity, wait for the DVD.