Violent film review

"A History of Violence" is the best film I've seen about violence since "Fight Club" ripped its way into the psyche of Gen. X and younger-end Baby Boom men and created great unease among film critics and the usual assorted very serious social commentators. "A History of Violence" is very different from "Fight Club," with more conventional storytelling and filmmaking technique. It's a very tightly written and edited movie--there are no wasted or gratuitous moments--though you wouldn't know it at first. The movie is about the corrosive effects of violence and the inability of people to escape the long-term consequences of their violent behavior. And there's violence aplenty, of different types and with differing motivations.

Viggo Mortensen was well-cast as the main character in the film. His sensitivity and physicality make him believable during all of the twists and turns his character goes through. Mortensen had an excellent supporting cast--his character's wife and children are convincing in their reactions to the fall-out from the main character's twists and turns. Ed Harris and John Hurt are cast as quirky, lethal mobsters, unlike any I've seen in the classic mob movies or "The Sopranos."

"A History of Violence" is not a movie for anybody averse to violence. But it's very good, and is likely to be remembered at Academy Award time.