When A History of Violence first came out in the theaters, I heard nothing but positive things about it. But I never bothered to go check it out for myself. When it finally came out on DVD, I heard even more high praise for the film. But I never bothered picking up a copy. It wasn't until maybe a year later that I got the DVD in the bargain bin for $5 did I finally get around to seeing what all the hoopla was. So, I went into the movie with very high expectations. So high in fact that it was unrealistic to think it was going to satisfy me based on all the rave reviews over the years. Well, I was very underwhelmed to say the least. A lot of underdeveloped characters and back-story and nothing really has any kind of resolution.

Fast-forward 6 years later and I have decided to give this movie another chance. With the amount of time that has passed since I last saw it, I figured that with fresh eyes and lower expectations given how it played to me before, maybe the movie would play a bit differently this time around. Sad to say, but my opinion about A History of Violence still remains the same. It's not that it's a bad movie, far from it. It's just not the way I like my gangster flicks or Killer with "amnesia" plot device. All the actors from Viggo Mortensen, Maria Bello, William Hurt and Ed Harris are great as always. It's just the story itself and the pacing that never quite delivers for me.

But yeah, I think the movie is definitely overrated based on all the glowing reviews out there. Still worth a Rent if there isn't anything else on the shelf that is a priority for you. Personally I would go with The Long Kiss Goodnight first before checking out A History of Violence if you're looking for a slamming action popcorn flick, which was the type of movie that I thought I was going to get when I picked up my DVD way back when.

Definitely overrated like other films I've seen {cough}Drive{cough}{cough}

as you said, no bad... just not not all that.