A History of Violence: David Cronenberg

I'm not sure why David Cronenberg wanted to make A History of Violence.  It doesn't seem very, if you'll allow me to abuse the term, "Cronenbergian." It seems more like a Peckinpah or Eastwood film.  Based on the graphic novel of the same name by John Wagner, the film follows Tom Stall, a small restaurant owner and family man living in Millbrook, Indiana.  One night, two criminals try and rob his restaurant, holding his customers hostage. He responds by killing them with a frightening efficiency. Tom becomes a local hero.  His story and picture are shared all over the United States. Almost immediately after this news is broadcast, a number of Irish gangsters from Philadelphia show up and start calling him Joey Cusack.  They claim that he was a well-known criminal who fled after trying to kill a rival mob leader.  One thing leads to another and Tom finds himself being drawn back into the old criminal underworld which refuses to let him go.  Even worse, they are more than willing to hold his family hostage to get what they want. The film meditates on a number of themes that I have never really found within Cronenberg's previous work: the nature of redemption, the importance of family, and a man's right to defend them.  I guess that the film does explore the idea of a sinister, criminal underground which lurks beneath every aspect of human life, no matter how idealistic or picturesque they may be.  That is certainly an idea that Cronenberg has explored before in his films.  But regardless, A History of Violence is a fine character study of a man trying to escape his past.  But I still can't understand why Cronenberg wanted to direct it.

7/10