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A History Of Violence is like Mount Olympus. Instead of Gods gathering to argue, we have bad-asses pointing guns at each other. In this case we have Ed Harris (Fogarty) in the first half and William Hurt (Richie) in the ending with Viggo Mortensen (Joey/Tom) acting as the bridge. The latter is the younger brother of Richie and the enemy of Fogarty in this helluva movie about a once killer, Joey, who has assumed a new identity Tom Stalls and is married with 2 kids. His past catches up with him when he becomes a local hero by killing 2 psychopaths who also happen to open the film in a memorable way and attracts the attention of Fogarty. Every aspect, every detail is greatly shown and even though the violence is limited, is expertly described.
Now, this film is divided into 3 parts: Demanding, Discovering & Dominance. Don't get too excited, this is not 'official'. This is just how I saw the film.
Let's start with demanding and by demanding I mean Ed Harris - the modern Telly Savalas. From his introduction to his meeting with Sheriff Sam to his encounter with Edie in the mall to his death, Ed Harris gave a demanding performance, as he always does, and managed to upstage everyone sharing the screen with him. His absense only wants you to take another dose of the ol' syringe of bad-assery. A performance not to be missed!
Now we have discovering and that is Viggo Mortensen. Even though Viggo is the main actor in this, his performance skills are actually shown in great light when he re-discovers about Joey, the actual himself. His son, Jack, finds out who he is and the once calm Tom Stall disappears from their eyes and becomes Joey and he slaps him. Next, he almost strangles Edie to death but they start making love on the stairway. This was Viggo's, and his character, best moment.
The last we have is dominance and that is William Hurt. His mere 9-minute screen time is just about the time he needs to show off his bad-assery. He simply dominated the ending and even in his death, looked just about intimidating as he was when was alive and drinking! No wonder William Hurt was nominated.
In conclusion, this is solely for Cronenberg-fans or fans of bold, mature crime-drama movies or those who think that Ed Harris, William Hurt & Viggo Mortensen are one of the greatest actors on Earth. If you agree with the latter, then go ahead and watch this great - but not better than other Cronenberg films - movie and tell me what you think of it!
