Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

The acting in this movie is really good.

Wim Wender's The End Of Violence is a relentlessly strange, near inaccessible film about the inner workings of Hollywood, the secret methods the government uses to prevent violent crimes, and several key characters caught up in a series of bizarre events in the L.A. area. Nothing about the film is forthcoming or obvious, you've got to sit there for the two hours, observe what's unfolding in front of you patiently, and only later after some thought, try and determined what it all means, if anything. It's such a free flowing, non specific narrative that you really have no choice but to use the images, impressions and episodic scenarios to make sense of it, as opposed to the story as a cohesive whole, which it's not. Bill Pullman plays Mike Max, a high ranking movie executive, who after experiencing extreme stress stemming from both his difficult wife (a sexy Andie McDowell) and a huge deal he's supposed to close, finds himself making rash decisions, and suddenly on the run from the law. He finds solace with the large, hospitable family of his troupe Mexican gardeners, led by Henry Silva. Parallel to this, we see Ray Bering (Gabriel Byrne), a mysterious government operative, perched high above the Hollywood hills in a secret observatory, tasked with trying out a brand new, clandestine security system which spies on the citizens below. He finds himself distracted when he falls in love with a Mexican girl that his bosses send to help him with paperwork, leading to perhaps hers and his jeopardy, at what his higher ups may see as a breach of security. Rounding out the roster are Pruitt Taylor Vince, Nicole Ari Parker, Rosalind Chao, Michael Massee and Udo Kier. Byrne brings his usual stressed out, bleary sadness to the role, and indeed it's a tragic turn of events which he handles beautifully, going from cold, cranky tech room dweller to warmhearted lover who can make the ultimate sacrifice. Pullman is wonderfully listless, seeming to have almost walked out of a David Lynch film, bringing his sinister yet everyman affability to new heights. It's a film that a lot of people dislike, because in the traditional ways, it really isn't about much of anything that you can pin down, and in the end doesn't answer any questions or come to a cathartic, engraved resolution. But it's this up in the air quality that I really liked, a linear yet airy, fluid chain of events that don't even seem to be really based on a script, they just sort of...happen. Mood and feeling are what this ones about, not logic, theme or structure. Fine by me.

This is not a mainstream movie, but that does not mean that it is bad. The End of Violence is a very good movie which has quite a lot within its frame work. It is somewhat slow and when watching it for the first time it seems that there are scenes in the movie that could have been left out, they did not seem to add to the overall plot of the movie, and that tends to put me off. These scenes though, namely the poetry reading scenes, do indeed add to the plot in a very subtle way and are very important in the development of the characters, two of whom are minor characters in the movie. Even then, the poetry that is read out depicts the major theme of the movie, and that is the enemy that is within, not the enemy without, and the realisation of the characters that the enemy is not out there, but in amongst us.When watching the movie we must constantly remember the title because that helps us understand what the movie is about. It works in two levels though, in a social level and in a psychological level. The social level of the movie is about a new security system which can monitor all the city of Los Angeles. A man can sit in one room and see almost anywhere in Los Angeles. He watches crimes happen and he watches criminals get caught. The problem with this is that congress does not know about the system and if they found out about it then big problems would happen. They must keep it secret at all costs: it will end violence but at the cost of people's privacy. This seems to reflect Orwell's Nineteen Eighty Four where big brother knows everything.The psychological aspect of the movie deals with a film producer name Micheal Max. Everybody knows and loves this guy, but he is not loved by all as he is abducted by a couple of hit men and was about to be executed. Micheal Max has an obsession with violence, he says that when he was a kid he was scared of the movies and then he became a film producer. This suggests that he desires to master violence by controlling it in the forms of movies. Though he tries to master violence, he cannot master his life. His relationship with his wife is falling apart as he just does not spend anytime with her. She begins by just wanting to leave and ends by taking everything.The plot of the movie comes out when he receives an email from somebody containing confidential FBI information. Then he is abducted and one assumes that it is because of the FBI document. This is someway true, but the killers are nothing more than idiots. The film does not reveal who attempted to kill him, or why, but this document remains somewhat important, though we are never told what it is. This movie never really wants us to be sure. It lets us make up our minds about things but does not tell us if we are wrong or not. What we are really doing is watching Micheal Max come to understand and conquer his fear of violence.There are three main male characters, Doc, a forensic scientist who is investigating Mike Max's disappearance, Mike Max, and Ray, the operator of the surveillance system. The characters have little contact in the movie but are connected. There are three women that are directly connected with each of these characters, and two of these women interact with one of the other males characters. Max's wife, the first one, speaks with Doc, but her role is that she drifts further away from Max. The actress is loved by Mike as a friend, but her role is that she builds a relationship with Doc. Then there is Sue, the Mexican cleaner, who works under Ray. They fall in love, but at the end of the movie she exits with Mike Max, after both have given up violence. The casting of the three male characters was done in a way that they all were similar in appearance. These characters were linked in this way and also in a way that they were trying to bring an end to violence. Mike Max has been discussed, Ray is trying to bring an end through the surveillance system, while Doc is a police officer trying to uncover the truth. It is interesting that the police are not interested in the truth, they have their theory and are not at all interested in the truth.There is a lot more in this movie, but to bring it up would mean watching it again and studying it closer. This movie is very good for those who like movies which make you think. The ending isn't conclusive and you don't realise it is there until you get there. It comes as a bit of a shock because there seems to be a lot of things unresolved, but when you look back over the movie you realise that they have been resolved, but not in the way you expect it to be. The movie tells you numerous times that it is not a typical Hollywood ending, such as Mike Max's comment, "I hate those conspiracy movies where the beautiful woman gets killed." This is not a typical Hollywood movie and thus does not have a satisfying ending for those who want one.

Wim Wenders(Buena Vista Social Club: Paris, Texas) is not for everyone. His films are slow and methodical. They do not hit you hard, but creep along unwinding in layers so that you can savor them like a fine single malt scotch.This film came out before Crash, but it is still that same format. There are many stories going on at once, and they are interconnected.Bill Pullman (Independence Day, The Grudge) is a movie producer (Mike Max) who finds himself in a situation that allows him to change his life. It wasn't such a great life anyway. He was only married to Andie MacDowell (Groundhog Day, Four Weddings and a Funeral). How can a man stand that! But his situation has been observed by a computer scientist that is working on a new tool of Big Brother to watch our every move. Like they don't have that now.There were some very interesting characters floating through the story. This was Traci Lind's last movie (?). She was an actress who lost a job when Max's movie gets shut down, and she runs into him, and she connects with a cop who is pursuing her and working the case, and he connects with the computer geek and well, I said it was all interconnected while separate stories are going on.It's Crash. It's Babel. It's both. It's neither. It's about life. It's about Big Brother. It's about relationships between the races. It's about Hollywood.It's Wim Wenders, so it takes some effort, but it is worth it. It's not about sex and violence: it's about people.Besides that it has Ry Cooder's music.

"The End Of Violence"!!! How grand-sounding! Another hopelessly pretentious and clumsily made drama as only Wim Wenders can make it.From all the German directors who ever made it outside the confines of Germany he is easily the worst. At the very beginning he gives us a taste of nonsense to come: Pullman informs us that he went into movie-making because as a child he was afraid(!) of movies (and people in general). First of all, I've never heard of "movie-phobia", and even if such a person existed outside of Wenders's silly fantasy world they would probably end up in a lunatic asylum at best, and not as a successful yuppie. The next nonsense is Byrne telling a friend that the reason he doesn't drive is that he wants to have as little to do with modern technology as possible; meanwhile, he works in an observatory, surrounded by amazing high-tech gadgetry! Driving a car, by comparison, is like living in a cave! This wasn't meant to be Wenders's humour but an attempt to define Byrne as a complex and fascinating character. The attempt failed. After Pullman, the hot-shot producer, more-or-less mysteriously survives the kidnap and attempted murder, he is virtually adopted by a Latino family! And works there as a gardener or something for months to come! Weird, yes, but in a dumb way. All the while it is so obvious that the bald grim-faced guy is responsible for all the nasty goings-on. Then there is the detective who starts his investigation by flirting with a stunt woman(!)-turned-actress and later professes his love to her even though they still barely know each other! After they have sex, she rewards him with info as to the whereabouts of the missing Pullman. It's all so silly, so inane... The same detective hugs McDowell (Pullman's wife) during the interview! In between all the absurd and far-fetched goings-on there are the obligatory "deep European" moments: we have a black woman recite "poetry" - or modern poetry - which is so painfully PC, not to mention pointless, stupid and so very dull. After she finishes her pretentious little poem (about her father playing with her vagina) the stunt woman approaches her and says that she never met her daddy. How deep is that?! Later on, a badly-written black character raps more poetry and gets an applause for it; we later get to see his penis, which is also obligatory in "deep European art" films. What's the point of that fight in the bar?! Utterly pointless. And what's with that dialogue between Pullman and McDowell at the end? What's all that nonsense about? Dumb, dumb, dumb... The mark of every bad director is to have children behave like adults, so why should Wim be an exception? The little Latino girl philosophizes about not having a chance to see her dead father: "but we can't always get what we want"; this, coming from the mouth of a 7 year-old! She also says something in the last scene but by then I was almost half-asleep so I don't remember it.But what can one honestly expect from a person who makes a movie that is partly scripted by Bono(?!) in which he casts a rank amateur such as Milla Jovovich, in a piece of garbage known as "Million Dollar Hotel"? It is monumentally ironic and arrogant that Wim makes a brief mock-attack at Schwarzenegger early on in the movie; the latter may be a bad actor, but his contribution to the world of film is already about a hundred times that of Wim's. Wim even attempts brief self-satire (if I may call it that) by having the Hungarian director (Kier) make a sarcastic remark about making a mistake to leave Europe to make movies. In reality, Wim should thank Satan, with whom he must have a contract, that he ever got a chance to direct at all, let alone for Hollywood. As is plain to see, I have used many exclamation marks in this review; the movie is full of absurdities, bad dialogue, and is rather pointless. But the "!" is more a reflection of my hatred towards talentless, pretentious European directors than this particular movie - as insipid as it doubtlessly is. Leonard Maltin actually refers to this film as "gorgeous to look at" but even he wasn't so gullible to give it a good rating.