A History of Violence

A History of Violence is one of the few
comic books made into a movie that I don't have prior
knowledge of. Keep in mind I'm sitting here with at
least 14 graphic novels on my shelf and a box full of
comics. So what I did was decide what I was going to
write about the movie after I saw it, then read the
comic, then write some more. I think the book I read
was an abridged promotional version of the story made
for the movie (I got it while working a promotional
event). Nonetheless, I wanted to let you know my
knowledge of the work it's based on before I get into
the gritty details.

Tom Stall, as we learn very early and have reinforced
numerous times is a small town family man played by
Viggo Mortensen. When two murderous thieves
break into the neighborhood diner he owns, he saves
the day by saving himself and his customers and
brutally killing the men. Afterwards, men from the
mob (led by Ed Harris) start harassing him with
the belief that he used to be a cold-blooded killer
with mob ties. The movie is about how the return of
violence into this man's life effects his small town
life and loving family. His wife is played by
Maria Bello and the mob boss we don't see until
late in the film is William Hurt

As a big horror fan, I've got lots of love for
David Cronenberg. Scanners,
Videodrome, Nightbreed, and The
Brood are horror classics. Even his turn at more
mainstream horror like the gross-out movie, The
Fly have earned him some kind of acclaim. He's
also known as the man who successfully pulled off the
impossible adaptation of Naked Lunch and really
disturbed us with one of my first exposures to the
indie scene: Crash. Cronenberg's provided
audience with an eerie feel permeating his films while
performing psychological studies of man. This movie's
no different.

Really, there's two wildly impressive things in this
movie. One is the remarkable contrast between the
innocent life of Tom Stall, and one is the disgusting
brutality of his former life as Joey Cusack.
Cronenberg purposely drags out the boring small time
life and inserts quick scenes of some really graphic
violence. And it's not crazy, explosions graphic. Or
even lots of action. The violence just seems worse in
comparison to his regular life. Plus the sound
effects and showing of this violence really make you
cringe. I don't if Cronenberg's a genius for doing
this or not. I know he's a good director, but it's
also a trademark of the underground horror directors
of the 80's to overdo the exposition before all Hell
breaks

The other really impressive point is that the acting
in this movie is superb. I really have never thought
Viggo Mortensen was much of an actor. I thought he
played the character of Aragorn fairly flat while
Tolkein had painted a really emotionally complex
character that shouldn't be overshadowed by every
other character in the movies. I also didn't see much
development in his performances in A Perfect
Murder or Hidalgo, and G. I. Jane
was an adequate performance but nothing spectacular.
However, that's all I've seen of his (if you don't
count somewhat bit parts). I've been told to check
out Albino Alligator and The Indian
Runner to change my tune. After this movie I'm
definitely planning on that because Viggo did a great
job here. Ed Harris also delivered quality as
he always does. But my favorite has to be the
magnificent acting we see from William Hurt in
the funny bad guy role. It's a hard character to pull
off and Hurt shows us why there was so much buzz about
him almost 20 years ago. Anyway, this really
emotional drama could be lost without spectacular
performances and not only is it not lost, but it
exceeds all expectations.

Despite what I said about the grittiness of the
violence, the movie isn't really about violence, and
doesn't have that much. It's more about how
violence can affect a perfectly normal family. As
soon as violence enters their lives, things start
changing and this movie is a portrait of both the
evils of violence and the ability for it to emerge in
even the most innocent of people. I know this is
getting long, but I have one more thing to say:

So I read the comic after thinking all these thoughts
about the movie and it's a good comic. It's very
comic-y though. I expected something a bit more
around the lines of 100 Bullets. For example, the
book doesn't progress the exposition past a certain
point because it's boring, and Ed Harris' character
where's Viggo Mortensen's missing finger in a jar
around his neck. Also, there's a huge propane tank
explosion. There is no missing finger in the movie,
no jar around the neck, the propane tank explosion is
changed to a bit of shooting and a vicious beating,
and the exposition and side stories are really
developed because you can do that in a movie. As a
result, this adaptation did a fabulous job of taking

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