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A History of Violence | 2005 | R | - 7.8.6
Viggo Mortensen stars as a man running his own diner in a small town, living a quiet life with his loving wife (Maria Bello) and their two children. That's until he stops two men from robbing his diner and killing his co-workers and he makes the news as a local hero. That's when several mobsters show up, convinced that he is not really who he claims to be, and plan to take him back to Chicago no matter what. Also with Ed Harris, William Hurt and Ashton Holmes. Directed by David Cronenberg. [1:36]
SEX/NUDITY 7 - A man sits on a bed waiting for his wife to join him, and she comes out of the bathroom wearing a cheerleading uniform with a short skirt: she lifts the skirt to reveal lace panties, she pulls off her husband's pants (we see him in boxers, his shirt is open and we see his bare chest), they kiss, he pulls off her panties, he lifts her skirt and puts his head at her crotch (we hear kissing), and then they turn each other around and perform oral sex on each other (we see her bare buttocks).
► A married couple fight, he pushes her down on the stairs, he pulls down her panties (we see her bare buttocks), she pulls down his pants, they kiss violently and he thrusts (we see his bare buttocks), while they both moan.
► A woman walks out of a shower wearing a robe that hangs open in the front revealing her bare breasts and pubic region. A woman wears a low-cut top that reveals cleavage and it is short in the back revealing her bare back. A man takes off his shirt to wash blood off and he is bare-chested.
► A man and his wife kiss in many scenes.
► Using crude terms a man asks a man if he had sex with a woman on a bar in front of a crowd of people.
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VIOLENCE/GORE 8 - A man fights several men: he kicks in the head one man who had wrapped a cord around his throat, punches another man repeatedly in the face (there's bloody pulp left where his nose used to be), shoots another man in the chest, and breaks another man's neck; we eventually see several men lying motionless and with bloody wounds.
► A man fights two men: He hits one man who's holding a gun in the face with a coffee pot, he shoots another man who's threatening a woman with a knife, and he shoots the first man, after being stabbed in the foot (we see the man's jaw blown off with a large pool of blood and he gurgles as he dies).
► A man punches another man and then shoots him twice in the chest (we see blood splatter), and another man is shot in the head (we see the bloody hole and blood seeps onto the ground).
► A dead man is propped in a chair with a bloody cut on his neck and a smear of blood on a nearby desk; also, a woman lies dead on the floor in a pool of blood.
► A man holds a gun on a man who punches him in the face repeatedly, tearing his nose off (we see the man on the ground twitching, with bloody pulp on his face); another man is shot in the chest and another man is shot in the back splattering blood on another man.
► A little girl comes through a door and she finds two dead bodies; she whimpers, the killer points a gun at her and we hear a shot (we do not see her being shot).
► A woman slaps a man hard in the face, he grabs her around the throat and holds her against a wall; she hits him again, he pushes her down on the stairs, and he pulls down her panties and they have what appears to be consensual albeit violent sex (please see the Sex/Nudity category for more details).
► A teenage boy shoves another teenage boy from behind, he kicks him in the crotch, knees another teenage boy, slams him into a locker, kicks him in the stomach and slams his face into the floor repeatedly (he has a very bloody nose and mouth).
► A man yells at a man, another man grabs a woman by the arm, shoves her into a chair, drags his hand across her clothed breasts and prepares to kill her with a knife. A man holds a teenage boy in a threatening manner, and his mother screams and tries to run to him, whereupon he is released. A woman loads a shotgun and prepares to shoot whoever comes through her front door: her husband comes through and she nearly shoots him.
► A man slaps his teenage son in the face and the boy runs out of the house. A bully shoves a teenage boy into a locker several times and threatens him. A little girl wakes up screaming from a bad dream.
► A man has a bloody cut on his throat and a bloody bandage on his shoulder. A woman has large bruises on her back. We see a man with a large scar on his face and a discolored eye and we hear that the wound was caused by barbed wire.
► A man talks about a man having damaged a man's house and after a fight having injured his eye. A man talks about a woman stabbing him with a fork and having blood spurt out of the wound. A man talks about trying to strangle a baby in its crib and that the mother beat him for doing so. One character asks another character if he'll have him "whacked."
► A woman vomits loudly.
LANGUAGE 6 - 14 F-words and its derivatives, 1 obscene hand gesture, 4 sexual references, 17 scatological terms, 4 anatomical terms, 12 mild obscenities, 3 derogatory terms for homosexuals, 7 religious profanities, 16 religious exclamations.
SUBSTANCE USE - Two teenage boys drink alcohol, one while driving. A man drinks alcohol, and a man drinks a beer. A teenage boy and a teenage girl smoke cigarettes, and a man smokes.
DISCUSSION TOPICS - Murder, mobsters, organized crime, families, love, luck, betrayal, forgiveness.
MESSAGE - Things may not always be as they seem. You can never leave your past behind.
CAVEATS
Be aware that while we do our best to avoid spoilers it is impossible to disguise all details and some may reveal crucial plot elements.
We've gone through several editorial changes since we started covering films in 1992 and older reviews are not as complete & accurate as recent ones; we plan to revisit and correct older reviews as resources and time permits.
Our ratings and reviews are based on the theatrically-released versions of films; on video there are often Unrated, Special, Director's Cut or Extended versions, (usually accurately labelled but sometimes mislabeled) released that contain additional content, which we did not review.
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We welcome suggestions & criticisms -- and we will accept compliments too. While we read all emails & try to reply we do not always manage to do so; be assured that we will not share your e-mail address.