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Movie Recap – A History of Violence

Posted on October 15, 2005December 4, 2019 by Paul Armstrong

To follow in line with the aforementioned Friday movie-going high-jinx I’ll add quick reviews of the other films we’ve seen on our Mini-Van Mob afternoons.

A History of Violence
Starring: Viggo Mortensen (I sure hope you know who he is), Ed Harris, Maria Bello, William Hurt
Directed: David Cronenberg (Crash, The Dead Zone, They Fly)
Rating : ★★

SYNOPSIS
Tom Stall is a family man from Indiana. Owns a coffeeshop. Loves his kids. Loves his wife. Beloved in the community. But there’s more to his life than meets the eye.

The film starts off with a brutal scene of violence involving two menacing and heartless men. These men happen to run across Tom Stall upon their journey through small town mid-America (as they try to avoid being caught). When their attempt to rob Tom’s diner, pulling out guns and threatening one of his female employees Tom flips a switch and in a matter of moments has both men dead in their tracks. Tom is a hero and all is still right with the world.

Another visitor happens into Tom’s diner — Carl Fogarty (Ed Harris) – and claims to know “Tom” as another man, with another life in Philadelphia. Soon they begin to threaten Tom’s family, showing up at his house, at the mall, around the town. It’s time for Tom to take action, and to face his demons.

Although the film starts intriguing and subtly, it soon turns to obvious vengeance genre violence (and completely random sex scene in the stairwell — oh joy, another completely implausible place; what gives, get real people!) and predictable outcomes. I don\’t recommend this movie. It’s dull, meaningless and predictable.

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