A history of violence

I saw this film last night and thought it was crap. I was hoping for good things, but apart from a promising opening sequence, all I got was a stream of film cliches. The bad men are clearly irredemably bad because they kill a child, which stops you feeling any remorse when they are moved down themselves. Tom Stall is such a regular guy, with a wife who attends to his sexual fantasies, and nice kids, and who runs a nice all-American diner in a quiet town, that you feel a bit sick. And bored--because establishing this takes a long time. No doubt Mr Cronenberg is aware of the debased nature of the currency he is working with, but he fails to turn it into anything more interesting. I considered leaving the cinema, which is pretty bad for me.