Cult fave David Cronenberg makes the bigtime. Long undervalued for superior work, he’s now hailed for treading familiar narrative waters. Viggo Mortensen is an inspired choice as a small town family man whose hidden violent past comes back to haunt him, threatening his entire family. Only a retreat into his long submerged violent self can save him & his family. (Isn’t this the plot mechanism of every other film noir?) The film is very watchable and Cronenberg gets a fine sense of menace going, especially when Ed Harris ’s mob boss is on screen, but for too many scenes, you feel distractingly ahead of the action. By the third act, the ironic tone of off-centered violence is too self-referential to retain its naughty kick, and then William Hurt starts hamming away, curdling what’s left of our goodwill.
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