A History of Violence

I watched this film on DVD last night.

It was excellent.

How do I define excellence in a movie?

Very simple: when it ends you wish it hadn't.

It's seldom that I think that at the end.

I've liked the title of the film since I first heard it but had no real idea what it was about, since I didn't recall any reviews I might've read when it came out last year.

I won't tell you what it's about because maybe you'd like to approach it fresh as well.

I will say the following:

• Every single actor in the film is perfect — which I suppose reflects quite favorably on the casting director, Deirdre Bowen, as well as David Cronenberg, the movie's director.

• Now I know why Viggo Mortensen is so highly regarded.

• Mario Bello deserves major roles.

• William Hurt playing a Philadelphia mob boss and Ed Harris as his New York counterpart are beyond excellent: they are seriously frightening, they make their characters so real.

• I had never seen a movie where one character kills ten people that didn't leave you focused on all the deaths and violence — until this one.

• I was surprised to read in the credits that the film was "based on the graphic novel by John Wagner and Vince Locke."

I don't know why that should surprise me except for the fact that I've never read a graphic novel or even held such in my hand and yet here's a superb film made from one. Maybe it's time for me to have a look next time I'm at Barnes & Noble. Who knows, maybe I'll really decide to live large and play a videogame for the first time ever and have a firsts festival.