--- title: "A History of Violence: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/a-history-of-violence/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/a-history-of-violence" critics_score: 81 critics_reviews: 6 licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # A History of Violence (2005): what the critics said Critics' score 81 from 6 reviews: 5 positive, 1 mixed, 0 negative. Most critics praise A History of Violence as a tightly controlled thriller that makes its violence exciting, then asks what that excitement costs. The praise centres on Cronenberg’s precise direction and the performances, particularly Mortensen’s shifts in persona and the intimacy he establishes with Bello. The reviews repeatedly find substance in the film’s treatment of identity, marriage and family, while its western and noir influences give those concerns a clear, economical shape. The disagreement concerns how much depth lies beneath that economy. The Independent finds fewer ambiguities than the premise deserves, despite admiring the film’s directness. Slant Magazine is the clearest dissenter, judging Cronenberg’s handling impersonal and the material thin, though it praises Bello’s wounded performance. The spread is therefore wider than the strongly positive consensus might suggest: the same straightforward storytelling reads to most critics as discipline, and to a minority as simplification. ## RogerEbert.com — Roger Ebert Rating 4/4. 22 September 2005. Ebert calls it a brilliant and disturbing film that uses violence to explore identity and consequences. He singles out the performances and Cronenberg's precise direction for praise. [Read the review](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/a-history-of-violence-2005) ## The New York Times — Manohla Dargis Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 23 September 2005. Dargis praises the film as a masterpiece of visceral thrills and indirection that forces viewers to confront the cost of movie violence. She highlights Cronenberg's refusal to let audiences indulge in violence without consequence. [Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/23/movies/once-disaster-hits-it-seems-never-to-end.html) ## The Guardian — Philip French Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 2 October 2005. The critic calls Cronenberg's film a stunning modern-day western that examines the role of violence in American society and popular culture through a pared-down thriller narrative. He highlights the uniformly excellent performances, especially by Mortensen and Harris, along with the superb cinematography. [Read the review](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2005/oct/02/philipfrench) ## The AV Club — Keith Phipps Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 21 September 2005. Cronenberg respects the thriller needs of the pulp material while sneaking in deeper explorations of violence’s everyday underpinnings and a marriage in crisis. The critic highlights the lived-in intimacy between Mortensen and Bello and the way the film gets most graphic with characters’ emotions. [Read the review](https://www.avclub.com/a-history-of-violence-1798308361) ## Slant Magazine — Jeremiah Kipp Fi1m's normalised score 45/100 (inferred from the text). 10 September 2005. Cronenberg delivers journeyman work that feels like a work-for-hire rather than personal filmmaking, with the material treated like one-dimensional comic-book juvenilia. The critic singles out Maria Bello’s rich, soulfully wounded performance as the anchor that occasionally reveals cutting emotional truths about marriage and betrayal. [Read the review](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/a-history-of-violence/) ## Empire — Adam Smith A confident return to form and Cronenberg’s most accessible film since The Fly, this comic-book fable influenced by Westerns sneaks in his familiar themes of violence as contagion and personal metamorphosis while leaving viewers uncomfortable about their reactions to the action. [Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/history-violence-review/) ## Evening Standard — Derek Malcolm Cronenberg’s study of violence and its effects on a family, laced with sex and humour, keeps the audience off-balance while showing the darkness behind the hero’s triumphs; it is a strange but compulsive watch from a director who knows exactly what he is doing. [Read the review](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/dark-days-of-a-reluctant-hero-7385869.html) ## Screen Daily 16 May 2005. Festival review. Cronenberg gene-splices film noir and the Western into vigorous new shape in what looks like his most mainstream project in years but reveals characteristic themes and masterful classical screen language. It singles out the effective thriller elements combined with philosophical depth and strong performances from Mortensen and Bello. [Read the review](https://www.screendaily.com/a-history-of-violence/4023147.article) ## Sight and Sound — Richard Falcon 1 October 2005. Cronenberg's film is a fantastically sure-footed meta-thriller that is both rooted in and self-conscious about the pleasures of violent Hollywood thrillers. It singles out the hyperreal, detailed handling of violence and the performances, especially Mortensen's subtle shift in persona. [Read the review](http://old.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/review/2556) ## The Independent — Nicholas Barber 1 October 2005. The film strips the graphic novel source to a wry look at how violence disrupts a family’s psyche, making it Cronenberg’s most straightforward and crowd-pleasing work in two decades, though perhaps too straightforward with fewer ambiguities than the premise deserves. [Read the review](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/a-history-of-violence-18-goal-12a-four-brothers-15-vital-18-blinded-15-317116.html) ## Time Out — GA 27 September 2005. Though Cronenberg's most mainstream movie in years, it is marvellous as a terrific thriller that transcends generic concerns with a subversive critique of the American Dream. It singles out the brilliant wit, bravura style, perfect pacing and peak-form performances. [Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/a-history-of-violence) ## Eye for Film — Scott Macdonald Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 29 September 2005. Cronenberg's film is a smashingly effective thriller and elegant character study that eschews gimmickry for challenging, superbly constructed cinema, marking it as the year's best. The critic singles out the stunning mood created by Peter Suschitzky's cinematography and the uniform excellence of the cast, particularly Mortensen and Bello. [Read the review](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/a-history-of-violence-film-review-by-scott-macdonald) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/a-history-of-violence.md