How can this movie get such a high rating ? It was awful, unbearable to watch. The acting was absolutely appalling, I cannot believe that good actors such as Mortensen and Cassel would agree to be a part of this ridiculous mess. The opening scene was so bad, you know the film can only get worse if it starts out bad. Absolutely horrible.

I really can't believe how wrong all the critics were on this one. Most of it was a wanna-be gangster flick for the Russian mob. Bad accents, cliche upon cliche, and the climactic fight scene in the steam room was not that great, unless you really want to see Viggo's privates flying all around. I expected so much more from these actors and Cronenberg.

I only give this three out of my respect for the director. It was horrible. I hated this as well as History of Violence. The plot line was weak and the movie boring. This movie is no commentary on violence. For starters there is not much action/violence in it. Secondly the action scene the movie does have (the knife fight) is violent and exciting. I have a hard time believing it was meant to be anything more. Cronenberg loves to display violence and gore. He is not attempting to do anything more than entertain through violence. If you don't believe me go rewatch The Fly and Scanners and Rabid. The only problem with EA is he doe not create reinforce his plot or characters...its a true shame. This movie is an emperor with no clothes...nothing more.… Expand

How this got suck a high rating in Metacritic, i can only wonder. This is trash. I agree with everything SethR wrote in his user review. I'd have a lot more respect for the whole enterprise if the film just admitted the truth - it loves to mire in the violence, the thinly veiled homo-eroticism, the simplistic moral message, and the infatuation with priveledge, and basked in it, rather than trying to make some moralistic good over evil struggle of it. Don't waste your time on this trash.… Expand

Cliche, careless, completely unconvincing.

This movie was so bad and gory that I walked out fairly early - yuck!

DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME OR MONEY OR LISTEN TO THESE MAROONS!!!. For all of you who find enjoyment in this piece of garbage and try to defend it with comments about art and deeper meaning, I feel bad for you. You must really be simple minded-- There is nothing clever or artistic about this film and I can give you 5 reasons why this is movie is quite possibly the worst movi9e I have seen in a really long time: 5)- It isn't believable-- No one walks into a L&D ward and walks out with a baby, No one is allowed things like a diary aka record of events in that girls situation, by the way how did she escape?? Why bother trying to explain that? 4) It is filled with lame cliches about Russia-- The only 2 Russian cliches they forgot was Dolph Lundgren and Boris and Natasia from Rocky And Bullwinkle 3) It is filled with Homosexual inuendos-- Naked men fighting and dudes watching each other bone-- ri-frickin-diculous 2) it would be pointlessly disturbing at times if it wasn't so hilarious-- verbally- characters say randomly racist things and there is random gory parts that would be borderline gross but ends up looking silly- Like Leprechaun 2 Gore- so unbelievable it is funny but not in a good way. and the #1 reason is. IT IS BORING__ OH MAN IS IT BORING!!!! From bad lighting to juvenile dialog there isn't one thing uttered in this film that is memorable or poignant. I have seen adult films with better writing. Whata Hack, I hope if you haven't seen this I convinced you not to. ANd if you liked this film I whole-heartedly question the necessity of you on this planet.… Expand

Question: when you people who gave this rave reviews watched this movie, what crack were you smoking? I definitely should have visited my local dealer because watching this movie sober was absolutely disappointing. Not only is it gratuitously violent, misogynistic and unbearable (Mortensen and Cassell's accents are truly aggravating to listen to), but it's also mired by the director's unrelenting ADD. He doesn't tie in all of the issues he vaguely touched upon throughout the movie. The end result is complete lack of satisfaction. This is the most disappointing movie ever and it's truly indicative of the CRAP Hollywood's been putting out there for us. If this CRAP gets such a high rating like this, I'm not watching anything in theaters anymore.… Expand

This move was terrible and I can't agree more that the critics really got it wrong with this one. Cliché's, bad accents and no definitive ending. Definitely one of the worst movies I have seen in a while. I applaud the actors for their efforts, but the direction and storyline was just abysmal. Cliché, cliché, cliché.

Cliché upon cliché, bad script and accents galore..cringworthy to say the least. I left the theatre somewhere around half time..just couldn't stand the James Bond-like villains any longer.

The biggest disappointment of the year. This film hides its lack of a plot, character development, and a script behind several scenes of graphic violence. Not worth renting much less paying to see!

Interesting but way too much graphic violence, sex, nudity, and language. Is this what passes as mainstream these days?

Crap. What happened to you Cronenberg? That's two misses in a row for my standards. Stop doing crap and drop Aragorn, he's a horrible actor. It's a 4, but scoring a 2 to offset the retards who liked it.

This movie was the WORST thing I have seen in the cinema since Blair Witch 2. I couldn't believe that a movie about the Russian Mafia could be so dull and boring. The story crawls along at a snail's pace then abruptly ends. THIS MOVIE IS TERRIBLE. DON'T BELIEVE THE RAVE REVIEWS.

I walked out of History of Violence because it sucked so bad, so I'm glad I read some of these reviews. Sounds like more of the same. History of Violence, to me, had no character development. I didn't give a crap about any of the characters, and then having to watch a ridiculously timed, lame sex scene on the stairs was the icing on the cake. I looked around in the theater and was like, "Am I the only one who sees how weak the script and acting are?" I bailed, since you never get back that 2 hours, even if you can't get your money back!… Expand

Dull, dull, and duller. Apart from a good performance by Mortensen, the film could be a standard sub-par Hollywood action flick. Black merc SLs, black suits, shirts, and overcoats, this is cliche at it fullest. Terrible accents and background score round it off. Expected much more considering the hype.

Do not believe the hype for this movie. It is crap. A rip off of The Godfather in every way.

Just a complete, terrible piece of crap; a truly awful film.