This is Cronenburg's best and most nuanced movie in quite a few years.
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10/01/05
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A History of Violence (2005)
87
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:195
Fresh:169
Rotten:26
Average Rating:7.9/10
Consensus: A History of Violence raises compelling and thoughtful questions about the nature of violence.
Runtime: 1 hr 38 mins
Genre: Thriller, Theatrical Release, Comic Book
Theatrical Release:Sep 30, 2005 Wide
Box Office: $31,408,459
Synopsis: Tom Stall (Viggo Mortensen) is living a happy and quiet life with his lawyer wife (Maria Bello) and their two children in the small town of Millbrook, Indiana, but one night their idyllic existence... [More]
Starring: Viggo Mortensen, Maria Bello, William Hurt, Ed Harris
Director: David Cronenberg
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Reviews for A History of Violence
Cronenberg takes Josh Olson's script, based on a graphic novel by John Wagner and Vince Locke and pushes it to the psychological limits.
10/01/05
When the atmosphere turns menacing and Tom Stall has to fight for his family, Cronenberg is firing on all cylinders, and the movie crackles with excitement.
10/01/05
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.
10/01/05
Top CriticCronenberg's direction is astonishingly good, particularly during two contrasting sex scenes that demonstrate the irreversible power shift in the relationship between Tom and Edie.
10/01/05
If for no other reason, watch Violence to see and hear the nuances of [Mortensen's] performance.
09/30/05
An intriguing, though-provoking and sometimes funny film that is one of the best movies of the fall certainly and perhaps of the year.
09/30/05
Should not only entertain but make your hair stand up.
09/30/05
Director David Cronenberg lends a slightly hyperreal quality to his mesmerizing, provocative film A History of Violence.
09/30/05
This beautifully crafted film has the [Norman] Bates smile, and the subtle irony of a crowbar cleaving a skull.
09/30/05
It'd take a book-length review to explore all of the implications. Cronenberg's raising questions in the mode of Flannery O'Connor, whose harsh revelations shocked readers.
09/30/05
The film gets much of its strength from first-rate casting.
09/30/05
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.
09/30/05
Cronenberg is such an irrefutable master of his craft that he can build tension and intensity from the simplest materials. We are riveted, and riveted with the simplest of filmmaking tools.
09/30/05
Cronenberg's ... not afraid to hold the mirror up to nature -- or to show us just how ugly, and how compelling, staring that reflection in the face can be.
09/30/05
A History of Violence combines the visceral punch of Sam Peckinpah's Straw Dogs with the oppressive uncertainty of any of Alfred Hitchcock's "wrong man" scenarios, while subverting the conventions and expectations of both.
09/30/05
Right from its first, quietly unnerving scene A History of Violence is unmistakably the work of an artist with a purpose.
09/30/05
A History of Violence is not only director David Cronenberg’s best film, it’s also his most conventional.
09/30/05
This is some of Cronenberg's strongest work since his 1983 adaptation of Stephen King's The Dead Zone.
09/30/05
It has the reticence of a good Western, the shock of black comedy and the naked emotion of fine drama.
09/30/05
Top CriticLatest News for A History of Violence
September 26, 2008:
Paramount Taking Child's One Shot with Olson 
Paramount has hired "A History of Violence" screenwriter Josh Olson to pen an adaptation of Lee Child's "One Shot" novel, about "an ex-Army policeman who...gets tangled up with... More...
December 24, 2007:
RT on DVD: Rush Hour 3, The Kingdom, and More!
There's action and drama to be found this week, and not just with your family at Christmas dinner. And if you couldn't make it out of town for the holidays, you're in luck; this... More...
October 02, 2007:
Cory Goodman to Remake Cronenberg's Brood
You guys! Check it out! You aren't going to believe this, but...it's a news item about a remake! More...
September 20, 2007:
Box Office Guru Preview: Jovovich vs. Alba in Multiplex Mayhem
Jodie Foster will find herself in the middle of a catfight over the number one spot this weekend. The star of current chart-topper The Brave One will face challenges from Milla... More...
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