Tedfoldol everything you have heard about this movie is true.

Aneesa Wardle The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Staci Frederick Blistering performances.

Francene Odetta It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

acarabbal Great screenplay, great acting, and i liked a lot the characters. Ed Harris was amazing.

Osmosis Iron You just can't escape the violence can you? It justifies the "violence" in it's name more than enough! Shows that Cronenberg can do excellent comic book adaptations as well as creepy sci-fi.

Smoreni Zmaj Besides Road to Perdition, this is, I think, the only non-superhero movie based on DC comics and convincingly the best Kronenberg film I've ever saw. I do not know how to present a brief summary for this movie without spoilers, so I'll skip story itself. At first glance, this is a thriller with superbly directed action scenes, explicit violence and wild sex. But if you look more closely, you'll notice that camera doesn't linger on thriller aspects. It focuses more on emotional expressions of characters, making this movie more family drama than thriller. Great choice of actors and excellent characterization. Even characters that appear briefly have depth and you will experience them as real people, as if you personally met them. Viggo Mortensen, Ed Harris, William Hurt, Ashton Holmes and Peter MacNeill are all perfect in their roles, but Maria Bello literally brought hers to life. She was nominated for Golden Globe and in my opinion she deserved at least nomination for Oscar as well. Even if in time I completely forget about this movie, I surely won't forget her as Edie Stall.8,5/10

Leofwine_draca David Cronenberg's film is a visceral look at the effects of violence on normal, everyday family life; charting how it ripples out from a single act of violence until it becomes all encompassing and prevalent. Typically for a Cronenberg film, it doesn't shy from the scenes that other movie makers avoid; here we get some violent shootings and explicit sex scenes, but it's nothing compared to some of the director's earlier fare like THE FLY. Instead, A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE is a surprisingly subtle, well-acted thriller that builds the suspense scene by scene, has many interesting and surprising plot twists, and keeps you engaged throughout.Viggo Mortensen fits the small-town hero role like a glove, and handles his part with aplomb; he's especially good when handling more complicated scenes later on in the movie. Some great actors ably support him, although Maria Bello, as his wife, fails to make her character the remotest bit likable. Instead, the actor playing Viggo's son is superb, Ed Harris excels as a scarred gangster, and William Hurt turns up right at the end in a creepy showdown.Cronenberg's direction is as assured as ever, although his customary coldness is apparent in one or two repellent moments. The various acts of violence are handled very well and are surprisingly restrained given the director's pedigree, but this doesn't detract from their impact. All in all this is a very well-handled thriller that has a number of interesting, compelling themes, including identity, doing what is right, and, surprise, surprise, violence. Cronenberg's maturest work yet.