|
OFCS Rating: 84% Fresh |
|
C- | "A fine example of how a moody script and an overzealous director can bring a film down." |
| FromTheBalcony |
| Bill Clark |
5/5 | "Appropriately enough, A History of Violence hits like a loud, open-palmed slap on the face." |
| Bloody Disgusting |
| Brian Juergens |
B+ | "This is an weird, grotesque, funny, and disturbing picture that drips of David Cronenberg’s touch all the way through." |
| FilmJerk.com |
| Brian Orndorf |
4/5 | "there’s much more roiling beneath the surface here than may be apparent on a single viewing." |
| Filmcritic.com |
| Chris Barsanti |
A- | "Cronenberg’s caricatured vision of American fascism is hilarious for its spot-on depiction of the anxiety that accompanies it." |
| ColeSmithey.com |
| Cole Smithey |
| "The slippage between myth and realism, or maybe expectation and consummation, is precisely the genius of A History of Violence." |
| PopMatters |
| Cynthia Fuchs |
86/100 | "Sin City with a functioning brain." |
| Apollo Guide |
| Dan Jardine |
86/100 | "This is Sin City with a functioning brain" |
| Cinemania |
| Dan Jardine |
4/5 | "Cronenberg and screenwriter Josh Olson succeeded in forcing viewers to reexamine how we look at violence and its consequences." |
| eFilmCritic.com |
| Dan Lybarger |
4/5 | "If for no other reason, watch Violence to see and hear the nuances of [Mortensen's] performance." |
| eFilmCritic.com |
| David Cornelius |
A+ | "Should not only entertain but make your hair stand up." |
| Ozus' World Movie Reviews |
| Dennis Schwartz |
1.5/4 | "Holds a classy A-list sheen and faux attempts at bringing importance to what, in essence, is actually empty-headed and off-puttingly manipulative." |
| DustinPutman.com |
| Dustin Putman |
C | "Eventually does not hold up due to its own ambivalence towards its subject matter." |
| FilmJerk.com |
| Edward Havens |
3/5 | "Lo más reciente del canadiense David Cronenberg es un sólido thriller, casi de factura clásica, sobre las ramificaciones de la violencia." |
| Uruguay Total |
| Enrique Buchichio |
A | "The movie is enthralling, with secrets, surprises, turns and twists, all in the service of a psychologically thrilling story." |
| EricDSnider.com |
| Eric D. Snider |
3.5/4 | "A story of revenge that keeps Cronenberg on the path of exploration but he eases his audience into it with images of violence we’ve come to accept as forms of entertainment." |
| eFilmCritic.com |
| Erik Childress |
A | "A masterful symphony of contradiction." |
| Film Blather |
| Eugene Novikov |
| "Impeccable formal control to match audacity is mandatory, and Cronenberg provides it" |
| CinePassion |
| Fernando F. Croce |
3.5/4 | "Robustly gripping in its lingering moodiness, A History of Violence is an unsettling meditation that spotlights the subtlety of savagery" |
| Movie Eye |
| Frank Ochieng |
A | "Makes the medley of genres and moods a rich blend, at once profound and hilarious, serious and absurd--it's a masterful film that's masterful in a strange, deceptive way." |
| One Guy's Opinion |
| Frank Swietek |
1.5 | "A flawed and unimpressive meditation on violence." |
| Spirituality and Practice |
| Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat |
3/4 | "As the title indicates, this is not a sedate art film. It contains moments of sharp, vicious mayhem and there is a body count. But the strength of the movie lies in its psychological complexity and depth." |
| ReelViews |
| James Berardinelli |
4/4 | "Violence is a turn-on, Cronenberg seems to be saying, but a turn-on that comes with a destructively high price." |
| Q Network Film Desk |
| James Kendrick |
4/5 | "David Cronenberg's tense, lean drama-thriller is a bold, fresh film that's steeped in what's made his career great -- and is his most accessible movie in decades." |
| Netflix |
| James Rocchi |
3.5/4 | "A smart, absorbing thriller" |
| Perihelion Journal |
| Jay Antani |
8/10 | "Cronenberg nous offre une fois de plus une mise en scène qui s’est considérablement assagie[...] on ne peut toutefois réfuter qu’il a encore énormément de suite dans les idées" |
| Panorama |
| Jean-François Vandeuren |
'3.5/4' | "Touches on dusky psychological nerves while maintaining an uncharacteristically easy accessibility." |
| Palo Alto Weekly |
| Jeanne Aufmuth |
9/10 | "Achieves its mission as pulp storytelling first and as disturbing thought provocation the morning after." |
| Window to the Movies |
| Jeffrey Chen |
2/4 | "Based on a graphic novel, this material is treated like the one-dimensional juvenilia of ham-fisted comic books." |
| Slant Magazine |
| Jeremiah Kipp |
7/10 | "Not a major motion picture that will blow everyone away, but a good movie that should entertain most looking for a couple of twists and turns..." |
| JoBlo's Movie Emporium |
| JoBlo |
7/10 | "The movie begins slowly, methodically, and builds increasingly toward a devastating climax." |
| DVDTown.com |
| John J. Puccio |
| "Director David Cronenberg (Crash) has a taste for violence, and here he gets to indulge in it to what we would hope is his heart's content." |
| In the Dark |
| Jonathan F. Richards |
3/5 | "full review in Greek" |
| Movies for the Masses |
| Joseph Proimakis |
2.0/4.0 | "... like biting into a sour pickle hidden in the bottom of your ice cream cone... simply fails to deliver what it promises to fulfill another agenda." |
| MovieCrypt.com |
| Kevin A. Ranson |
4/4 | "Both the best action flick and the most affecting character study since Kill Bill." |
| Montreal Film Journal |
| Kevin N. Laforest |
B+ | "David Cronenberg's elegant direction of Josh Olson's adaptation of John Wagner and Vince Locke's graphic novel almost seems like overkill for this spare and obvious tale." |
| Reeling Reviews |
| Laura Clifford |
3.5/4 | "Though the story is predictable, Cronenberg's cool touch keeps it from degenerating into tired action-movie clichés." |
| TV Guide's Movie Guide |
| Maitland McDonagh |
B+ | "A History of Violence takes nostalgic ideas of the so-called good old days and exposes the truth of human behavior that such rosy views obscure.
" |
| Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema |
| Mark Pfeiffer |
low +1 out of -4..+4 | "The plot is really very close to being a 1950s
Western plot warmed over. This is a film with good and bad elements, but the good elements
I have been familiar in films for almost half a century." |
| rec.arts.movies.reviews |
| Mark R. Leeper |
3/4 | "Small-town stereotypes detract from a well-made point by director Cronenberg" |
| Movie Habit |
| Marty Mapes |
| "See this movie -- I promise it won't be like any other movie you've ever seen, and may well change the way you look at violence in the movies." |
| Flick Filosopher |
| MaryAnn Johanson |
5/5 | "There are elements in this film that are 100% Cronenberg (the beautiful violence we so rarely see these days, subtle weird humor), but this is not your typical Cronenberg" |
| Film Threat |
| Michael Ferraro |
2/4 | "[David Cronenberg] no doubt wanted to say something profound about the nature of violence, but his approach betrays his intentions." |
| Aisle Seat |
| Mike McGranaghan |
B+ | "An outstanding and deeply unsettling exploration of the conflicts all humans have about violence, simultaneously drawn to it frightened by it, revolted by it." |
| Movie Mom at Yahoo! Movies |
| Nell Minow |
B+ | "Probes our intrinsic attraction to violence with caustic incisiveness." |
| Lessons of Darkness |
| Nick Schager |
4/5 | "Tematicamente ambicioso, demonstra ter segurança suficiente da força de sua narrativa ao permitir que o espectador saia do cinema sem estar completamente certo de como tudo terminou. E esta talvez seja uma de suas maiores virtudes." |
| Cinema em Cena |
| Pablo Villaca |
5/5 | "Elegant, simple, profoundly intelligent filmmaking that gauges the story impeccably." |
| Shadows on the Wall |
| Rich Cline |
5/5 | "The tension builds in a slow boil, then ignites furiously when we're not quite ready for it." |
| eFilmCritic.com |
| Rob Gonsalves |
B | "It is less an exploration of violence in America and more of a portrayal of a prototypical alpha male." |
| Laramie Movie Scope |
| Robert Roten |
C+ | "A History of Violence feels like an academic exercise for its creator, Cronenberg, rather than an effort to bring cinematic life to a graphic novel." |
| Reeling Reviews |
| Robin Clifford |
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OFCS Rating: 84% Fresh |
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