A History of Violence (2005), dir. David Cronenberg, BenderSpink/Media I! Filmproduktion/Munchen & Company
David Cronenberg and DC? Yeah, this was based on a 1997 graphic novel. I wasn't aware of that when I saw this.
Tom Stall (Viggo Mortensen) is your average Joe. Runs a diner in the heart of Indiana, a real slice of Americana as a perfectly normal if dull guy. When two punks show up with bad intentions, Tom kills them.
Pretty neat too, almost professional even. Naturally this gets his name in the paper and even a brief flash in the national news. Tom downplays it and tries to go back to normal, when Carl Fogarty (Ed Harris) shows up.
He wants to talk to Joey.
Tom makes it clear he's got the wrong guy. Carl disagrees; when a guy takes your eye out with barbwire, you tend to remember details, like say a face. When Tom makes it clear he ain't going anywhere with Carl, the mobster agrees. If he can't get Joey, he'll just have to settle for Joey's family, like his kids or wife.
Things escalate. Is Tom really Joey? And what do the other members of Carl's group want with Joey anyway?
Wonderful. The horror really comes across in Carl and even Tom. Carl is not a nice man. He has some standards, true, but those standards have no issue with murdering a kid just because of who he may or may not be related to and Tom? Mortensen I've also found to be a good actor but here the transformation is nothing short of amazing.
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