A History of Violence (2005)

[photopress:history_1.jpg,thumb,alignleft] All his own work?

Carl Fogaty: Any last words before I blow your brains out, you miserable prick?
Tom Stall: I should have killed you back in Philly.
Carl Fogaty: Yeah Joey, you should have.

It’s all, ahem, ‘Viggo’ for the mo – but one can but hope that a discussion of what is perhaps the best mainstream thriller since Se7en (1995) will not bring too many complaints…

Every so often, a film comes along that blurs the boundaries between genres, that shows what the art form is still capable of, when it’s done right. And boy, is David Cronenberg’s take on small-town fear and loathing ever an example of doing it right.

Consider the source material – few would have predicted, with the recent glut of comic-book adaptations, that a director of Cronenberg’s stature (Eastern Promises (2007) most recently, but Dead Ringers (1988), The Fly (1986), Naked Lunch (1991), Videodrome (1982) all show his willingness to pursue uncompromising visions) would choose to adapt the graphic novel by John Wagner and Vince Locke. Now, of course, we can all be very grateful that he did.

Viggo Mortensen is Tom Stall, a mild-mannered, happily married coffee-shop owner with beautiful wife Edie (Mario Bello) and well-adjusted kids Jack (Ashton Holmes) and Sarah (Heidi Hayes). Unfortunately, his life and those of his family are set to be changed forever when he defends his restaurant staff against the assault of cross-country murderers Leland (Stephen McHattie) and Billy (Greg Bryk). The thugs lie dead, Stall’s name and face are all over the TV and papers as a local hero, and then a different breed of hard-cases start arriving in town, led by Carl Fogarty (Ed Harris), who claims that Tom is in fact one Joey Cusack, formerly of Philadelphia – a mob man renowned for his killing abilities. Stall denies all – but someone’s lying, right?

The film is a marvel. Rarely, if ever, have sublime set-pieces followed each other in such seemless succession. From the horrifying opening (you tell me – have there ever been more chilling killers portrayed on film?) to the wordless ‘family reunion’ at the denouement, Cronenberg never relaxes his grip, whether challenging viewer sensibilities with the realities of violence or playing the sublime cat-and-mouse, ‘Is he? Isn’t he?’ game at the story’s core. And, like all the very best thrillers (such as The Usual Suspects (1995)), the games played by the narrative can be equally enjoyed on repeated viewings – for example, when one of Stall’s restaurant workers regales him with a story about how his girlfriend used to wake up in the middle of the night convinced that he was a serial killer and try to murder him. ‘So what did you do, leave her?’ ‘No, I married her.’

SPOILER ALERT! And the answer to the puzzle is provided half-way through – just look at Viggo Mortensen’s eyes change after the following line: ‘Go back to the house, Edie. I’ll get them. I’ll get them.’ Amazing scene.

Top marks across the board to the ensemble cast – complementing Mortensen’s standout turn are Ed Harris’s laconic, scarred mobster Carl Fogaty and William Hurt as Richie Cusack, at the film’s climax, in a performance that combines chilling impassivity with jet-black humour – ‘How? How do you fuck that up?’ – while Maria Bello and Ashton Holmes deliver an always-believable account of a family that’s coming apart at the seams. Writer Josh Olson, meanwhile, offers up a granite-hard script that never once dips into caricature.

Would that all comic-books were so well adapted – Cronenberg, Mortensen and Co. at the absolute top of their game. It’s a killer.