This version of Shane doesn't end with the gunman riding off into the sunset. Instead, Tom returns to hearth and home, not sure of what he will find. As it turns out, he finds acceptance and maybe even forgiveness, but our final look at his haunted face shows that he will never again be comfortable in this life — he feels irreparably stained by his return to the bad old ways. Viggo Mortensen can communicate more with a glance than many actors can manage with an extended speech, and that final shot is full of loss and mourning for what had been. A movie about that guy would be complex, knotty and full of grownup drama. I really want to see that movie. Too bad A History of Violence isn't it.
*****
Originally published in The Opinion Mill.
Article comments
1 - demabloggery
I felt the disappointment too...it could have been a great film, instead of a moderately entertaining okay film...I enjoyed the pace, I thought it was acted well, but I couldn't get around the simple fact that the whole mystery was whether he was joey or not...and when that was given away what was left? This is the best review I have read of that movie.