After years of market oversaturation, the idea of “comic book adaptations” are now often synonymous with bland, formulaic, and cookie-cutter filmmaking. But in 2005, legendary director and horror icon David Cronenberg showed just how personal, stylized and idiosyncratic a movie based on a comic can be with A History of Violence. Based on the 1997 graphic novel by John Wagner, the film, which stars Viggo Mortensen, Maria Bello, Ed Harris, and William Hurt, is currently streaming on HBO Max, and despite the 21 years since its release, it’s still as relevant as ever. A perfect blend of lurid action, B-movie plotting, and cerebral takes on aggression and Americana, A History of Violence stands the test of time not just as a good crime movie, but as a testament to how deftly visual art can be translated to film.
‘A History of Violence’ is a Perfect Translation of a Graphic Novel to the Big Screem
David Cronenberg is a director notably unafraid to tackle garish subjects and portray grotesque creations, especially when it comes to body horror, where he created genre-defining classics like Videodrome and The Fly. Despite his fondness for outrageous visuals, Cronenberg has always been about more than gory images and shock value; even his most garish films carry a meditative, somber quality that grapples with the fragility of life and lack of control humans have over their selves and their identities. Because of this, he was an ideal candidate to bring A History of Violence to life on the big screen.
The film, which plays as a gripping B-movie with the intelligence of a rich character drama, makes excellent use of the range of every character. It marked the first collaboration between Cronenberg and Viggo Mortensen, a star whose internal complexity and comfort in perverse waters made him a perfect match for the director (they would team up again three more times). Mortensen plays Tom Stall, a seemingly mild-mannered and upstanding diner owner in small-town Indiana. Stall’s former life as a mob hitman comes back to haunt him after he thwarts a violent act in his restaurant and becomes a local hero. Maria Bello co-stars as his wife, Edie, while Ed Harris plays Carl Fogarty, an associate from Stall’s old days as “Joey Cusack,” and William Hurt appears as his brother, the notorious crime boss Richie Cusack.
Cronenberg understood not just the power behind Wagner’s original text, but also the unique artistic beauty of the comic book/graphic novel medium. A History of Violence retains the pulp feel of the graphic novel; its simplicity and blunt force as a genre movie are so lean and precise that it leads to wells of open-ended analysis. Whereas many adaptations are too embarrassed by their comic roots, this film grapples with the paradox of Tom Stall attempting to ground his superheroic physical prowess into the mundane world of Midwest America. His newfound identity is comforting, but his alter ego is bound to sprout.
The Violence Is Stylized…But Also Incredibly Real
On paper, A History of Violence is a far cry from David Cronenberg’s previous oeuvre (although he would later diversify his portfolio with more grounded films like Maps to the Stars and The Shrouds). But on second look, this 2005 movie — which garnered an Oscar nomination for William Hurt with just 10 minutes of screen time — still channels the director’s fascination with one’s body being an extension of the mind, and the disparate forces acting against the body in the world. In pure comic book fashion, the action is invigorating, edited with an incredible eye for slickness and propulsion, as seen in the initial diner attack and Tom’s showdown with Richie and his enforcers. Despite his preternatural abilities as a striker and gunfighter, Tom, in Mortensen’s haunted performance, never feels in control of his own ability to inflict violence. No matter how hard he tries to hide behind his new identity as a humble husband and father, he cannot repress this cursed superpower. His suffering offers more than an echo to Jeff Goldblum‘s in The Fly.
Unlike your average exploitation movie, the collateral damage and psychological dread of Tom’s acts of violence linger throughout the film. Tom and Edie often fantasize about recapturing the youthful vigor of their teenage years, but the facade of the former as the varsity quarterback and the latter as the unassuming cheerleader quickly crumbles when it’s revealed that their life was built on a foundation of lies. Cronenberg’s superb study of the bloodshed at the heart of the nation’s culture and the disillusionment of American innocence shatters the exceptionalism of all-American heroes and the juvenile nature of the hero’s call. It’s a perfect deconstruction of the comic book genre that we need today.
A History of Violence
- Release Date
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September 23, 2005
- Runtime
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96 minutes
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Viggo Mortensen
Tom Stall / Joey Cusack
