I have to be very careful with this review. I don't wanna write any spoilers, especially since the trailer did such a fantastic job of leaving them all out. In fact, almost everything you see in the trailer is from the first half of the film, so the entire second half is totally new. Just know that "A History of Violence" is a very good movie that will appeal to film snobs who like quality films, but also to those who just wanna see some sex and violence. It's got something for everybody... except kids. Don't bring your kids to this one.
Although I really like this movie, there are a couple of surprisingly sappy moments that border on cheesy, and the sex scenes, though showing very little nudity, are graphic, but not in the way you might think. One sex scene actually made me giggle, but that could be because I'm an immature dork who thinks fart jokes are funny (not that there's any farting in the sex scenes). I dunno, maybe it's just me. Oh, and there's this other scene where a character starts puking, and it seems very over the top. These are all relatively minor complaints, though, and the good really does outweigh the bad significantly.
The acting is awesome. Viggo Mortensen is excellent as "Tom Stall," a family man who owns a diner in a small town. His wife is played by the stunning Maria Bello. I like Maria Bello. She's hot. I've only seen her in a couple of other movies, "Payback" and "The Cooler," but when I do see her in a movie, I can't take my eyes off of her. Oh, and I should also point out that she's a really good actress. No, really, she is. I'm not just saying that 'cause she's gorgeous, she really can act. Ashton Holmes plays their son, and he's also really good. I've never seen this young actor before, but he does a great job in the movie. Ed Harris is also in it, and as you might expect from Harris, he's really good. William Hurt isn't in the movie for very long, it's just one scene, but he's awesome in that scene. It's just a really well acted movie.
"A History of Violence" was directed by David Cronenberg, a respected director whose films are usually outside the mainstream. I must admit to having only seen a few of his movies, though. The ones I've seen I liked, including his bizarre 1996 film, "Crash" (not to be confused with "Crash" that came out this past year), his remake of "The Fly," starring Jeff Goldblum, and "The Dead Zone," based on the Stephen King novel. I like all of those movies quite a bit, and I really should rent his other movies, I'm sure I'd like them. He does a great job with "A History of Violence," making a slow movie seem very fast-paced.
Heh, I just realized that David Cronenberg's initials are DC. Incidentally, "A History of Violence" is based on a graphic novel published by Paradox Press, a now-defunct imprint of DC Comics (Paradox Press also published the graphic novel that was the basis for the film "Road to Perdition"). Get it? David Cronenberg's initials are DC, and his movie is based on a DC Comic! Blah, whatever. I thought it was cool. Anyway, the graphic novel was written by John Wagner and drawn by Vince Locke. I never read it, but based on the other books I've read from Paradox Press, it's safe to assume that it's really good. I'm curious as to why the main character's name is "Tom Stall" in the movie. In the graphic novel, it's "Tom McKenna." The graphic novel was adapted into a screenplay by Josh Olson, who I've never heard of, but kudos to him.
Like I wrote at the top of this review, this is not a movie for kids. It's an adult movie, and not just because of the sex and violence. However, if you wanna see blood and gore, see "A History of Violence." If you wanna see a couple of jarring sex scenes, see "A History of Violence." If you wanna see full frontal nudity of the very beautiful Maria Bello, see "A History of Violence." Most importantly, if you wanna see a great movie, see "A History of Violence."
Scale of 1-10: 9