A History of Violence

[Gripper]

just seen the trailer for this one,looks bloody good.
http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0399146/
anyone in the states seen it yet?

[3RA1N1AC]

it's cronenberg. he rules. *shrug*

[Gripper]

Just seen it ,I think he's lost his touch,dissapointing.
OK but not a classic

[3RA1N1AC]

i liked it very much. not his best, but i certainly thought his touch was in it. the plot was really cliche, but cliche plot details sorta come with the territory as far as cronenberg goes. he still manages to spin it his own way with the sort of themes that run throughout all of his work, the perception/reality/mutation stuff, that whole thing. the presentation of those themes is pretty subdued though, more along the lines of "dead ringers" and "crash" where you've got to infer the mental transformation, what's it saying about the nature & limits of the human mind and perception and such. it's not as obvious as "oh look it's a monster" in a movie like "the fly."

reactions are of course sharply divided. people are really hating it on the IMDB forums, but a lot of that might be chalked up to the wrong audience going to see it (people who saw a trailer and thought it looked like some straightforward crime/action flick, LOTR & hidalgo fans, etc), and a little bit of it is from cronenberg fans expecting another "videodrome" or "scanners" i guess. then there are some people who loved it. critics apparently liked it a lot. the small audience (mostly adults, not teens) present at the screening i saw on sunday night, about a week after release, actually applauded when it finished and i heard a few people say "wow that was really good."

i'd recommend it, but cautiously. i figure most people (not all, but most) would need to pay more attention than usual to the quality of the acting & characters, the mental/psychological themes, rather than looking for continuity/plot errors, if they're to get anything satisfying out of it. it's got a sort of action movie plot, but anyone expecting easy thrills will be sorely disappointed. to somebody who's the sort that picks things apart, along the lines of "why he do that? i woulda done this instead" or counting the number of buttons on shirts, i'd advise not to waste the time. it ain't realistic and isn't intended to be. i'd go as far as to say it's a sort of plain-clothes science fiction, rather than realism. a description that prolly applies to most of cronenberg's work.

not to say i don't also enjoy a simpler movie, but this one seems difficult for a lot of people. and then there's no accounting for personal tastes, too.