History of Violence, review

History of Violence

This Viggo Mortensen film is intense and brutal. It’s about a guy (Tom Stall) who is forced to bring up his violent past to save his friends and family’s lives. This violent act gets the attention of people from his past, which leads to questions about his past.

While there are a few corny scenes toward the beginning of the film, as a whole, I felt involved in watching this so-called normal family falling apart after the violent events. The film does a fine job showing how violence can contaminate even the most normal minded people. It’s like a virus.

Howard Shore’s score is fine. The music does work when it needs to, and stays out of the way when needed. I’m surprised that Shore would pick a movie like this to score. But, how can you top Lord of the Rings? (By getting fired by Peter Jackson on King Kong.)

This movie is not for the faint at heart. It is very violent and full of sex and nudity. (Uh, Maria Bello gets naked.) This is the stuff America likes, besides trashy reality shows.

Grade B

Edie Stall: “If you mention that Elf girl one more time…”