The wonderful thing about triggers

VIOLENCE

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Edie starts to wonder about the man she’s known all these years. Jack, picking up on the vigilante vibe, gives the bully a longdeserved whupping. And Fogaty refuses to go away until Tom/Joey plays his game. Cronenberg keeps the mystery high and the tension higher as the bad men (the term, with its Old- West feel, is used several times) circle the Stall family and Tom circles the wagons.

Howard Shore ( another Lord of the Rings

alum, although he got his start with Cronenberg years ago) makes the film’s music into another character, one that shifts from tranquil winds to abrasive strings as events intensify. Seemingly out of place but expertly appended are the Hobbesian laughs — nasty, brutish and short. The director sets us up to thoughtlessly cheer the violence, then gives us pause for thought. It’s tragic circumstances with comic timing.

Mortensen anchors the film, and the accusations thrown at his character will have audiences squinting at the screen, trying to figure the man out. Harris’s character is a far more straightforward fearmonger, but he fits the bill nicely. Edie, trying to sort out feelings of maternal caring, marital fidelity and sudden suspicion, is a rich role that Bello really sinks her teeth into. Finally, mention must be made of William Hurt’s 11thhour appearance, taking his brief but memorable performance far beyond the scruffy patch of beard that is movie shorthand for “wacky cameo.” By the time the sun sinks slowly, you’ll be marvelling at how the Old West never seemed so new.

Opens in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver today and nationwide next Friday.

National Post

cknight@ nationalpost. com