"A History of Violence" ... anyone seen it?

[Deb in IA]

Came out on DVD last week, and we watched it Saturday night. DH is a HUGE graphic novel fan, and heard that it was a great adaptation. He read the book a while ago, and has been eagerly awaiting the movie.

I thought it was very dark and disturbing . . . but Viggo is HOT!!!

Other opinions/comments?

 

[LuvTigger]

Haven't watched it yet, but heard good things about it. I put it in my Netflix queue. I'd be interested to hear others comments/opinions as well?

P.S. I rented the Constant Gardener this past weekend if anyone wants to know about it. Great acting, but similarly, pretty dark and depressing. Not something to watch if you're looking to be cheered up!

 

[Kama89]

Sigh. I looooove Viggo, but I'm just not sure I'm brave enough to see this one. Guess I could try but if it gets to be too much, I can always rip it out of the player and go running back to my Lord of the Rings DVDs.

 

[RyMickey]

Personally, I didn't like it very much - not because it was too dark or anything like that. I just thought it was boring and I was incredibly annoyed with the two child actors in the film. They were distracting because they seemed so bad to me.

I know I'm alone on this one as it was one of the best reviewed movies of the year.

 

[Sandy V.]

I agree that "dark and disturbing" pretty well sums it up for me.

This was one of the movies that the "critics" went ga-ga for, and DH and I ended up walking out of the theater after the movie was over, looked at each other, and went "Huh?". Just didn't appeal to us at all. Very forgettable. But Viggo is a hottie, I'll agree with that!

 

[Slacking]

I'm glad I rented it rather than seeing it in the theater. I liked it but thought the last Act was much weaker than the first 2/3 of the flick.

 

[RC Fan]

Anyone watch the deleted scenes, making of the movie, etc?

 

[Deb in IA]

We watched the deleted "dream sequence" with director's commentary. DH watched parts of the "Acts of Violence" section, but I didn't. He tells me they go through how they filmed each of the action sequences.

We did watch the clip about the Cannes premier (Too Commercial for Cannes?).

 

[Gwene65]

Personally, I didn't like it very much - not because it was too dark or anything like that. I just thought it was boring and I was incredibly annoyed with the two child actors in the film. They were distracting because they seemed so bad to me.

I know I'm alone on this one as it was one of the best reviewed movies of the year.

I agree. Myhusband and I turned it off after Ed Harris got killed. I found it boring and I found the acting to be horrible. And I also thought Viggo looked awful. He needs to keep his hair long.

 

[CheshireVal]

DH loved it. I thought it was way too slow.

Interesting premise, but the story could have been told in half the time!

 

[RC Fan]

Anyone see Viggo kissing the director repeatedly on the mouth?

 

[Tarheel Tink]

I laughed out loud during a violent scene that William Hurt was in; I swear he was hysterical to watch! I enjoyed the movie and yes, Viggo was hot!

 

[ScoJo15]

Besides William Hurt being so awesome, I thought the movie was very slow and incredibly poorly acted. I even wondered if they were acting bad on purpose to fit their characters. There was no suspense, no emotional ties to the characters and the ending disappointing. I guess maybe my expectations for this movie were too high after all of the great reviews.

Geesh....really beat it up, didn't I?

 

[Miss Jasmine]

I saw this in the movie theater and while I won't say I "enjoyed" it, I thought it was well done.

 

[PeterPanette]

I loved this movie. I thought it moved along at a perfect pace, building tension and suspense.

I'm a big believer in that we all have a dark side....a shadow side. Doesn't make us "bad"...it's just a universal fact. I thought this movie was a fascinating study of that phenomenon.

And WOW! William Hurt's performance! That has got to be the most intense 5 minutes of acting I've ever seen.

And, I'm probably treading thin ice on this board by confessing that I'm not that big of a Viggo fan, but his performance in this movie moved me a lot closer to being one. He was superb.

 

[Deb in IA]

Anyone see Viggo kissing the director repeatedly on the mouth?

Maybe he was trying out for "Brokeback Mountain"?

 

[RC Fan]

I was shocked. I mean if he is gay, cool. His roles just always seem so rough and tumble. Admittedly I always think an actor's personality shines through in his roles, but I know this is not generally the case.

 

[wdwoldtimer]

I'm glad I rented it rather than seeing it in the theater. I liked it but thought the last Act was much weaker than the first 2/3 of the flick.

Totally agree with this...up until Ed Harris got splattered it was good. Once you knew that he was just hiding out and pretending to be someone else there really wasn't much left to the story....yet they dragged it on until to the rather silly showdown in PA. I thought William Hurt's character was unbelievable. I would have rather they just drag it on in the middle and kept Ed Harris alive until the end. What a waste.

 

[Ladyhawke10]

I loved this movie. I thought it moved along at a perfect pace, building tension and suspense.

I'm a big believer in that we all have a dark side....a shadow side. Doesn't make us "bad"...it's just a universal fact. I thought this movie was a fascinating study of that phenomenon.

And WOW! William Hurt's performance! That has got to be the most intense 5 minutes of acting I've ever seen.

And, I'm probably treading thin ice on this board by confessing that I'm not that big of a Viggo fan, but his performance in this movie moved me a lot closer to being one. He was superb.

I loved the movie, too. Funny that I saw another poster note that the child actors weren't that great--I thought all the acting was superb in the film except for the acting of the children...particularly the little girl...she was cute but no Dakota in terms of acting chops. But the story was great even if I had to close my eyes a few times because the violence was so graphic. I'd recommend it to anyone who likes dramatic thriller and can stomach some gross depictions of violence.

 

[sotoalf]

I don't see how anyone could think Maria Bello didn't give a phenomenal performance. Oscar shamefully overlooked her.