David Cronenberg is a filmmaker who enjoys making out-of-this-world films containing gruesome violence and sexual content, such as Crash (1997), Scanners, and Videodrome. A History Of Violence (based on the 1997 graphic novel of the same name) also contains bloody violence and sex but is one of the director's quieter films due to the subtleness and sensitivity in its characters. It is simply structured but contains complex moral themes, such as the nature of violence and what causes people to become violent towards others.
In this action thriller, Viggo Mortensen stars as Tom Stall, a man with a loving wife and two children, and works at a diner in a small town in Indiana with generally nice people. One evening, two men attempt to steal money from Tom's restaurant and assault one of his female workers. However, before both men can accomplish their robbery, Tom manages to shoot and kill both criminals. The incident causes Tom and his family to gain public recognition and grabs the attention of men from Tom's hidden past.
Cronenberg Questions The Nature Of Violence
Based on the characters in this film, violence can be caused by a number of reasons. In terms of the two criminals who attempt to rob Tom Stall's diner, they shoot and kill people in order to steal anything they want, including money. For Tom, he shoots both robbers in self-defense to protect his friends and fellow workers at the diner.
However, Tom managed to easily take down the robbers because he actually has a history of violence from his previous life as a hitman named Joey Cusack (his actual identity, which he hid from everyone, including his family). When a mobster named Carl Fogarty (Ed Harris) shows up at Tom's diner after hearing about his heroic act, he calls Tom by his real name, but Tom immediately denies that he's Joey. Fogarty continues to stalk Tom and his family, telling Tom's wife, Edie (Maria Bello) to ask her husband an essential question: "how come he's so good at killing people?"
Tom's son, Jack, is also impacted by his father's incident because he gets picked on by a bully named Bobby at school. Bobby views Jack as a weak kid who isn't as strong as his father, but Jack proves Bobby wrong by punching the bully and beating him up. Jack expresses his violent outrage toward Bobby because he's tired of being bullied and doesn't want himself or his family to be disrespected.
The Action Reflects On The Film's Violent Imagery
From the two criminals who go on a killing spree to Tom Stall's confrontation with mobsters from his previous life, the action sequences in the film occur at the right moments and are bloody and brutal. The introduction with the pair of killers named Leland Jones and Billy Orser is intriguing in the sense that none of their murders are shown onscreen. The start of the film is mostly a long take involving the two criminals, which also shows individuals they murdered in cold blood in a motel residence, reflecting on the cold nature of Leland and Billy's crimes, and that they have no regard for anyone else but themselves. Leland and Billy also behave in an odd, sociopathic manner because they act as if nothing has happened by slowly checking out of the motel, ringing the front desk bell, and casually taking water for their trip.
When Tom takes down Leland and Billy in the diner, he shows that he is a precise shooter with a gun, displaying his marksman skills, especially when shooting Leland in the jaw after being stabbed in the foot with a knife. Tom also proves he's a tough physical fighter when heavily punching and taking down Fogarty's men (which also hurts him because when Edie sees Tom getting violent, she realizes her husband is a dangerous man who wasn't honest about his actual identity). Tom's skills are also best shown during the film's climax when he eliminates his brother Ritchie (William Hurt) and his gangsters in Philadelphia.
A Comic Book Film Elevated By Strong Performances
Cronenberg's picture is not only based on a graphic novel, but it resembles a comic book film due to the violent action set pieces and the simplicity in its story, distinguishing the protagonists and antagonists. However, the film is also a thriller thanks to Viggo Mortensen's powerful performance as a conflicted man who has two sides to his personality. Tom Stall/Joey Cusack resembles other characters like John Wick, Wolverine/Logan, The Punisher, and Dexter Morgan because they are all professional killers who can never truly escape their pasts and the reality of who they are.
As Ritchie Cusack and Carl Fogarty respectively, William Hurt and Ed Harris are evil criminals like Leland and Billy, but are deadlier in the sense that they are powerful mobsters who are strategic and knowledgeable about Joey's whereabouts, and act only when necessary. Hurt and Harris also provide some dark comedy through their interactions with Joey, like when Fogarty tells Joey that it's painful to watch him pretend to be Tom Stall, or when Ritchie laughs when talking to Joey about the old days and how Joey was always the crazy brother whose mess had to be cleaned up all the time.
Maria Bello's Edie is the emotional arc of the film because she deeply loves Tom, but hates the fact that he lied to her and their children about his identity. Tom may be a tough guy who can defeat his enemies and wash away the blood and sins of the past, but his violent history can never be hidden forever, impacting how Edie and Jack view him. Cronenberg's thriller makes the case that violence is not only about survival, vengeance, or harming people for money and pleasure, but that it is an ugly curse that sticks with a man and stings the people he loves most.