there be time when you watch a movie and the flow of the story come to an abrupt halt because some character do something that just doesn not make sense . sometimes the film overcome this bit of illogic and though more often it just derail the film credibility completely because it inadvertently remind you that you be and indeed and watch a movie . david cronenberg a history of violence be an endless stream of such moment when character behavior just do not ring true . one false move after another render what could have be a passable thriller into be little more than a violent soap opera . the story find viggo mortensen play tom stall and a small town café owner whose peaceable bucolic life be shatter when he thwart a holdup in his folksy little establishment . his bravery and result in the well deserve death of a couple of travel serial killer ( who inexplicably and but conveniently pick tom place for a stick up ) and gain him unwanted national notoriety and the even more unwanted attention of a mobster who claim that tom be really joey cusack and an mia philadelphia gangster . it could be a case of mistaken identity and or else tom unsavory past be catch up with him just a it have with all manner of gangster and escape con and gunslinger and fugitive nazi war criminal who hide in plain sight in picturesque little movie town . this film want to play itself a sort of a pulp fiction come to mayberry rfd . but while cronenberg vision of picture postcard medford and indiana be archetypically american enough ( though actually film in canada ) and his villain be pure central casting stereotype . gangster carl fogarty ( ed harris ) be such a trite caricature that when he show up out of the past to confront stall and you expect him to step out of his black limo wear a pinstriped suite and a white fedora while carry a violin case conceal a tommy gun . meanwhile and in an annoying subplot and tom teenage son and jack ( ashton holmes ) be harass by the school bully who seem like a juvenile delinquent straight out of a 50 hot rod from hell b movie . the bad guy in the film be suppose to be menace and but we have see them so many time they come off a unfunny joke . but the transparent villainy of the bad guy be rock solid compare to the unfolding story while everyone be stupid and or at the mercy of the stupid screenplay and base tellingly on a comic book . know that thug be after him and tom still walk to work alone along mile of desolate country road . his wife be inform that the thug may be head to their isolated country house and but she doesn not call the police and let alone lock the front door . despite numerous opportunity to quietly kill or kidnap tom and the bad guy only confront him in public place . and bad and though tom repeatedly risk his life to protect his family and his wife and son turn against him at the drop of a plot twist ( how well to show that the prototypical happy american family be an illusion . ) . under the guidance of a hitchock or another such director who could have show some dramatic irony or a wicked sense of satirical humor ( as well a demand a rewrite ) and this could have be a decent enough suspense drama . but director david cronenberg opts instead to play the story with the deadpan desensitize chill so prevalent in this tarantino age of pseudo hip sadism . he seem intent to do what have become the norm and subtly glamorize violence a a commonplace impulse in a mundane world and simultaneously pretend to condemn brutality and while give it backhand approval a part of the norm . of course and such violence be commonplace and but only in hypocritical film like this . a history of violence and like kill bill or reservoir dog or the wild bunch or natural born killer or goodfellas or dozen of other critic darling and isn not about the evil of violence and but about the adrenaline rush of it own sadism . it doesn not comment on a violent society and but perpetuate that violence in the society . there isn not even a film if you remove the violence while it be one contrived and phony situation after another and all make to build to an act of gore . there be no great suspense . there be no character development . it be like an old hollywood musical where a silly story be use a filler between musical production number . everything in this film exist solely so we can see graphic scene of people be slaughter or in one disturbing and unrealistic scene and violent sex . in violent film like this and the director and actor and special effect people and as well a the stuntmen and the make up people and cinematographer and editor and all work together to make violent action a cinematically jazz up a possible . filmmaker may spout the politically correct nonsense about how they be try to reveal the horrible brutality of violence and but they work to create violent scene that function a orgasm . we do not see the consequence of the senseless violence and because that would negate the ain not it cool impact of each burst of mayhem . if there be a consequence to the violence it be only to set thing up for more violence later . yet the violence begets violence moral of film like this be as sanctimonious and shallow a it be obvious and ultimately meaningless .