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DVD (38)
A remarkably convincing examination of heroism, hero worship, and the seductive allure of villainy.
A model of clean, lean storytelling.
Cronenberg isn't engaging in parody or irony. Nor is he nihilistically pandering to our worst impulses: the filmmaking is too measured and too intelligent. He implicitly respects us and our responses, even when those responses are silly or disturbing.
David Cronenberg's adaptation of the underwritten graphic novel of the same name is a spare, mean movie of shocking violence and wrenching moral dilemmas.
It has the reticence of a good Western, the shock of black comedy and the naked emotion of fine drama.
[A] vigorously sublime take on guilt and innocence, the damned and the redeemed.
Without conceding any of his iconoclastic vision, Cronenberg has turned a genre film with classic Western overtones into a gripping psychological drama that examines the duality of man and his infatuation with the art of violence.
While it weakens in its final stretch...A History of Violence succeeds enormously thanks to the strength of its direction and performances.
A truly entertaining and engrossing study of violence, family, and our pasts eventually coming back to haunt us...
The violence that enters the characters' perfect domestic existence is permanent, and each act reveals truths about the people who use it and the audience who enjoys it.
Impeccable formal control to match audacity is mandatory, and Cronenberg provides it
...filled with riveting performances and enough thought and action to keep most audiences intrigued. (Blu-ray Edition)
The movie begins slowly, methodically, and builds increasingly toward a devastating climax.
As a startling wake-up call to our desensitization of violent imagery, masked in the guise of a superficial, standard-fare gangster tome, A History of Violence has already earned an assured place in the annals of cinema.
Complex examination of violence. Definitely not for kids.
It's one of the better dramas of the year so far -- even if at times it feels like an artistic genius is painting by numbers.
The tension builds in a slow boil, then ignites furiously when we're not quite ready for it.
Mr. Mortensen and the sparse, intelligent script hold it together.
pri%u010Da o obi%u010Dnim ljudima u neobi%u010Dnim situacijama
It's that personal courage to question the way things are, that elevates this film way above even its impressive enough status as an exceedingly effective thriller.
Clearly, David Cronenberg takes DVD content seriously, and viewers are the beneficiaries of this.
Shows its stuff as both suspenseful, eloquent storytelling, while giving rise to larger cultural questions connected to the entrenched institutionalization of aggression as a major means of problem solving in this country.
A History of Violence develops with the singleness of purpose, and the rigor, of a mathematical demonstration, one that begins with a commonly accepted truth and ends with brains spattered across the floor.
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