Review

Review Date: 2-October-05
Spoiler Rating: High
Juju Judgment: Junk

A History of Violence (2005)

"A History of Violence" starts with a long sequence in which two nameless, dull, and yet unnerving men check out of a motel. As they drone on about the heat and monotony of their trip, you develop a sense of dread about who they are and what they do and can predict where the scene is headed: to a reminder that evil is possible in even the quietest of everyday places because there are people for whom violence is a way of life. This, I suppose, is an important thing to remember as the action shifts to the startling events that befall a Midwestern schmo named Tom Stall. Because Tom is someone who walked that way of life and made a conscious decision to leave it. The problem is, he's still a lousy son of a bitch whose story is absurd.

Tom enjoys a halcyon existence in Everytown, Indiana, complete with a diner on Main Street, a renovated farmhouse, and a picture-perfect family that adores him. As played by Viggo Mortensen like his blood pressure's too low, he's the kind of guy who calls every man "Sir" as he pours their coffee and acts bashful around his own wife, Edie (Maria Bello). Bummer for him, then, that the aforementioned men of violence appear at his counter and shatter his tranquility with intentions of rape and murder. Bummer for them, also, that he turns the tables and kills them both in seconds. Suddenly, gentle Tom is a hero pursued by news reporters and a hoodlum (Ed Harris) who insists on calling him Joey Cusak from Philadelphia. From then on he descends a slippery slope toward the dark secrets of his past while the movie grows more and more ludicrous.

It's a close call between which character I like the least — Tom, with his sniveling faith in his right to the American Dream; Edie, a cipher who borrows a personality from whichever family member happens to be around; or their son Jack (Ashton Holmes), a teenager whose own experience with violence seems contrived to pad the film's short running time — but I guess that Edie takes the cake. Why is it that she calls the local sheriff when Harris first says "boo" to Tom but doesn't think to dial 9-1-1 when he wakes her with an exhortation to load the shotgun? And after a number of scenes in which she knits her pretty brow in imitation of savage motherhood, why is it that she allows her lying husband to continue risking her children's lives (or, at the very least, psyches) without ever making a move for the door? Is it because his newly unearthed dark side lends added spice to their already hot-and-heavy sex life? Or is it because she's a spineless twit who exists in the confines of the movie only to convince us that Tom deserves to be loved?

Such a premise becomes weaker as Tom's body count rises and his emotions remain the same. The stony ruthlessness evinced by the madmen in his coffee shop is clearly stamped on his determination to maintain the identity he forged come hell or high water. Sure, the thugs he offs probably had it coming (a sentiment echoed by his baby-faced son), but does that make him any less twisted? The fact is (or should be) that Tom Stall is an impostor with too much history for any honest person to forgive or forget; and it's disturbing that the movie doesn't say so.

Copyright © 2005 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.