A History of Violence

Viggo Mortensen stars in David Cronenberg's A History of Violence, he plays Tom Stall, a small town family man living in Indiana with his loving wife and 2 children. He has a secret past nobody knows about, but that changes after he single handedly kills 2 cold blooded killers who appear one night at his diner wanting to steal his money and kill everybody there. He becomes a hero, makes the news, his past finds him and comes to get him.

That past includes Carl Fogarty (Ed Harris), a one eyed mob boss from Philadelphia who comes to get revenge for something that happen to him because of Joey Cusack, the name he gives Tom. It involves that now dead eye. Tom denies it once and again, but Carl doesn't give up, and soon Tom's wife Edie (Maria Bello) and teenage son Jack (Ashton Holmes) are even doubting him. When Carl comes to Tom's house and threatens his family, Tom gets mad and all hell breaks loose.

Viggo is amazing. When his killer instinct kicks in he moves fast and with a blank face he brings down everyone in his way. But he's also a great father and husband. There are a few really great scenes between the family members, even if their first scene together is truly exaggerated. But he is really excellent here.
Same for Maria Bello. She is so strong and protective of her family, but when she finds out about Tom's truth Bello makes for some great acting. Maria and Viggo have great chemistry in their scenes together.
Ashton Holmes' Jack is strange. He's been being bullied at school for a while, but he reacts one day, and it's an awesome scene. But then he goes home and confronts his father and ends up crying like a baby.
Ed Harris is amazing as always. A great performance award worthy if it were a bit longer. Same goes for William Hurt who plays Richie Cusack, brother to the man Tom used to be. He appears towards the end of the movie for another violent showdown.

The violence is big here. It's very graphic but not exaggerated. And it's even hard to look at at times. The blood is just enough to make it all feel and look real. The score by Howard Shore is great too, giving some long silent sequences a great touch.
Josh Olson's screenplay is perfect. No wasted dialogue, the characters just talk when they need to talk and say just what's necessary. And Cronenberg's work behind the camera is excellent, award worthy, making A History of Violence his best movie to date, and Viggo's best performance to date too, which we'll be talking about come awards season.