My Review of "A History of Violence"

A History of Violence is a movie that came out back in 2005. It wasn't well known then and I think it's even lesser known today. That should be rectified because this is a fascinating movie that explores identity. Not how we particularly think about identity in 2022 but not too far off.

The movie starts off with a somewhat laissez faire about it. They make it understood that there is a polarization with violence. There are some that are not aware of it and some that feel very comfortable with it. We see this in the first part of the movie where there is a duo which seems to have some father and son relationship.

They are leaving a motel and in doing so they pretty much murder everyone in the hotel without any hesitation. They're cold hearted and have no empathy for anyone. It's common for them to take whatever they want because they use their violence to do this.

The next scene we get introduced to our main character, Tom, and his loving family. It's pretty much a perfect family. He has a very sweet and innocent daughter who is pretty oblivious to everything that's going on around her. We then have his son who is in his teenage years. He's a good kid but he's getting bullied at school. Tom is also very much in love with his loving wife. They have a great relationship and the two feel like they're on cloud 9.

In order to have a great movie all great things will eventually come to an end. That murderous duo I mentioned in the first scene so happen to be in the small town where Tom's family lives in. Running out of cash the two decide to rob a diner. It just so happens they choose to rob Tom's diner.

They rudely come in late and order the help around. Tom isn't having it so he decides to try deal with the two himself. This way the rest of his staff can leave the diner. Unfortunately one of the two thugs assaults Tom's waitress and threatens to shoot her. The other thug points his gun at Tom.

Quickly reacting to the situation Tom is able to kill both assailants while saving the rest of the patrons and employees in the diner. He suffered a knife wound to the foot as a result of his daring feat.

Pretty soon he becomes the town hero. His face and name is plastered all over the news and he becomes revered across the small town. Tom doesn't like this attention and plays the whole thing off as if it was nothing.

Things take a huge left turn when an infamous gangster comes to the small town to find Tom. He believes Tom is someone that he remembers from the past. Tom is adamant that he doesn't know what he's talking about.

This basically starts the whole movie off and it gets crazy real fast. Everyone starts to wonder if Tom is really who he says he is. Has this man been living a lie all his life? What would his wife and family think? We start to question what is in a name and what actions are genuine.

The cast does a great job in keeping the audience questioning. We don't know what everyone is feeling but at the same time we do. There's this nuance about each of them where they will show us what they're feeling in appearance but we don't know how they're going to react emotionally at the same time.

There isn't a ton of violence in this movie but when there is violence it's pretty gruesome. They try not to show too much gratuity which helps the shock factor when we are exposed to it. The violence is done in a very fascinating fashion as well. In some ways you're cheering for the violence but you also know that it's so wrong. It's hard not to come away with mixed feelings for a lot of the scenes. They're to get you to converse with yourself or the people you're watching this movie with. What was the right decision or what is the moral decision?

Overall, this movie had me in awe. I didn't think I would enjoy it so much. There is definitely a lot of thought in the development of this movie and in each scene specifically. They meticulously choreographed everything so well that you will have an urge to watch the movie again. I have to give this movie an 8 out of 10. It is very well thought artistically and in rationality. If you're not squeamish give this movie a try!