Life........Don't Talk To Me About Life....

So last Sunday me and The Zeke saw David Cronenberg's "A History Of Violence."

Well, the opening 5 minutes started out really slow, as if it were "A History Of Patience," then, it got rather disturbing, then turned into "A History Of Good 'Ol Small Town Livin'" for the next 20 or so minutes.

Yes, it seemed for a while that the title was deceptive, as the movie set up macho-man Viggo Mortenson as an all-around all-American dad. He begins the movie by comforting his daughter, who thought she saw monsters in her room, and then we see him the next day at the breakfast table being a good dad to his loving son and a good husband to his hot and loving wife. The movie shows the splendor of small-town life in the Mid-West as Viggo, as 'Tom Stall', has a cafe right there on main street. Well, things turn ugly fast as one night, the two scoundrels from the opening credits show up at the cafe at closing time. Things turn nasty and just before the raping and killing of everyone there, Viggo/Tom throws coffee in their face and then uses their own gun to blast them a few more holes in the chest and face. (oddly enough, his shooting seems to be dead-on accurate and his moves were almost like reflexes......hmmmmmm....)

Well, Viggo/Tom becomes a local hero, and one day some pretty tough guys show up and start calling Viggo 'Joey', to which Viggo denies he's this guy they want. Well, if you can't tell by now, Viggo/Tom really IS Viggo/Joey, and he's one bad-ass. It culminates in him killing some people in his front yard, and his family realizing he used to have a very different life. He eventually drives to Philadelphia to meet with William Hurt (who is sporting very idiotic-yet-tough-looking facial hair), and their is some more violence and goings-on.

Though disturbing at many points, "A History Of Violence" kept me on the edge of my seat and still rooting for the good/bad guy with the split personality.

I give it 4 uppercuts to the nasal cavity out of 5.