The movie begin with two men so unimportant to the story that they both didn’t possess any surnames, Leland (Stephen McHattie) and Billy (Greg Bryk) are checking out of a Motel, but it appears that they didn’t want to pay for their rooms because everyone there is brutally murdered, all except for a little girl. Upon seeing his shortsightedness Billy pulls his handgun out and blows her away close and personal like. With what dramatic flair this movie can muster the scene is cut to Sarah Stall (Heidi Hayes) who just had a nightmare which must be a groundbreaking occurrence because everyone in the whole family comes out of the woodwork. Eventually Leland and Billy meet up with Tom Stall (Viggo Mortensen) at his diner and for no reason they seem determined to continue their killing spree. But Tom steps in and stops them. This act of heroism earned him national fame, which draws more trouble to Tom — men from Tom’s past come looking for him. Unbeknownst to his family Tom was neck deep with the Mob and Carl Fogarty (Ed Harris) is there to collection for past battle scars Tom inflected onto him. Tom might go by Stall today, but his real name is Joey Cusack. When Fogarty tries to take Tom in Tom fights back and kills two of Fogarty's men. Before he is killed Fogarty wakes from under that fog he is in and defends himself before he is gunned down too, but Tom’s wound is superficial and Jack Stall (Ashton Holmes) is able to come to his father rescue. Despite this one time weakness Tom is given superhuman abilities by the director and is able to enter situations empty-handed whereas everyone else has massive firepower and walk away victorious. Upon learning that her husband was a mobster Edie Stall (Maria Bello) comically becomes violently ill and vomits out her frustrations. And later in the film she assaults Tom in anger. This puts Tom in a rage and pulls his wife down a flight of stairs and forcible pins her down and has sex with her. When you see Edie afterward she has bruises up and down her back and she looks like she is in a lot of pain. With no one left to kill Tom decides to see his brother, Richie Cusack (William Hurt). Once Richie admits that he tried to strangle Tom when he was a baby he orders one of his men to garrote him from behind when he is sitting in a chair, yet like I wrote earlier Tom is a one man killing machine and nearly unstoppable. He soon gets the upper hand and renders this man lifeless. Richie thinks he can do the same to his brother and pulls out a gun and shoots at Tom at point blank range several time, but bullets only slide off him and he is able to avoid being shot while simultaneously breaking another man’s neck. Tom then leaves the room and continues to slaughter the rest of Richie’s men until only Richie is left. By this time Tom acquires a gun and shots his brother in the head. Afterward Tom makes it home for dinner and the film ends without anyone saying a word like none of the events that transpired in that last several days ever happened. |
Every single movie I seen with Ed Harris I have liked, that is what got me into this film. The two other reasons: the title seemed to friendly hint at something and the synopsis — a case of mistaken identity. Later I learned History of Violence was based on a comic book, which makes perfect sense now because like many comic books there was little substance to the characters in this film. The movie really played off clichés and the depth of history shown was disappointedly shallow. Since the movie has come out, I have heard that the clichés in the film were used intentionally. Supposedly, the film subverts them. I really do not understand that. A cliché is a cliché is a cliché and I think it is best to avoid them. However, the director does not share that point of view. The villains are absent of remorse, wear black suits and drive a black car. The first scene in the film shows two other villains in the process of killing their way through a motel full of people. Is there a reason why they would do so? I guess they did not want to pay the bill or something. The scene ends with one killer aiming a handgun at a little girl's face. Bang. A director could not lay things out more black and white than that. Even Darth Vader on his worst day had more range. From the introduction, I found the time spent with the protagonist was lacking. I did not get a chance to know Tom and his family before all hell broke loose and after the fallout not much more. There is no need to worry about me spoiling the ending. I cannot give it away because there was no ending, no beginning and no ending. The middle events happen quickly and badly most of the time. Because of this time gap great haste was given in telling the story, shoehorning what should have been several scene into a couple. The most ridiculously drawn out scene is when we first meet the family. Tom's daughter, the most forgettable daughter in the history of little daughters, had a nightmare. One by one, the whole family comes out to see what is going on and then comforts her. The writing is plainly on the wall, here lives a loving family, but it comes off as phony as if I were to plant a sign with tree labeled on it instead of an actual tree. But you have to hang your hat on this scene because that is all she wrote. There is nothing holding the family together without it. If I took out this scene and say two other scenes then I would have removed the entire family. It is like a frame without a picture, scenes stack on top of each other like a house of cards. As far as storytelling goes Tom's son, Jack, is told like everything else — in splattered form, sort of like a painting Ed Harris would do in that Jackson Pollock movie, but not so artfully executed. I had to wonder why they gave Jack a girlfriend and gave her no lines; why have bits and pieces of a story with absolutely no need to connect the dots? The story seems to work against itself, again splashing around in the shallow end of the pool with the wimpy kid clichés. Was it asking too much to get to know Jack before he changed? Because Jack is an empty shell just like his bully, Bobby. With characters so unoriginal and boring naming them seems to be the biggest accomplishment. Bobby could be one of a thousand different bullies and Jack is no different from a thousand different wimps. There is nothing remarkable here. What is noteworthy though is how Bobby reacts when Jack catches one of his pop flys balls. As if the sky were falling. A bully's number one modus operandi is not to highlight any of their faults. It makes them look bad. But that is what Bobby does in spades. Bobby is a caricature of himself. The entire scene plays out as if in a fun house mirror with dynamite Bobby igniting at the worst possible moment and simply Jack shocked that he could make the easiest of baseball plays. From the look in Jack's face you would think he could barely walk to first base without falling down. In all truthfulness, though I cannot speak too poorly on William Hurt's character, Richie. At least with Richie you had some decent dialogue and I can look fondly on that. There are only really four characters in this movie. As much as I like Ed Harris he does not play a character in this film, more like a sock puppet. Tom, Edie, Jack and Richie are the players. Tom can think of himself as two people all day long, but it doesn't make it so. I did not buy that one minute. You have to show one side clearly, otherwise there is no way of telling which side you are looking at. |