You can feel it in the movie’s insinuating score and the
oppressively happy opening section, which follows small-town diner owner Tom Stall (Viggo Mortensen) as he enjoys a blissful slice of Americana with his wife (Maria Bello) and two kids. Such contentment can’t last, especially with squirm-inducing director David Cronenberg
(Dead Ringers) at the helm. It doesn’t, yet as Cronenberg’s meditation on the murderer in all of us proceeds, events feel less rigged than purposeful. The movie has the fateful air of an accomplished tragedy and the intensity of a vice grip.
