Currently in theaters are two very interesting, flawed thrillers, The Constant Gardener and A History of Violence. The two movies couldn't be more different, of course: one is by a director who looks outward into international themes and huge casts of characters, while the other is by a director whose gaze is decidedly inward—sometimes to bone, tissue, and raw tendon.

My major criticism of The Constant Gardener is that I wish it had been an hour longer. There's a lot of interesting stuff going on here, but sometimes we seem to be watching a brilliantly edited trailer for an epic miniseries. I really wish I knew more about those hateful British civil servants, for one thing, and the possibly gay African doctor, and the wife's helpful cousin, and the venal pharmaceutical executives—more about every character, actually, many of whom are fascinating but only half-glimpsed. I hear that the original cut of this film was over three hours long, though, which gives me hope for an extended edition on DVD. (On the other hand, I'm still waiting for the four-hour version of Kill Bill.)

As for A History of Violence, it's the sort of movie that ought to play better on a second viewing, if only because the first viewing is too tense to offer anything resembling a good time. At least with a second viewing, you'd know when to cover your eyes—and there are a few moments here that are worthier of eye-covering than anything since they found the girl's body in the closet in The Ring. As a result, you spend most of the movie waiting for the next shocking effect, which which tends to distract from the generally fine performances and direction. (The, er, facial prosthetics are pretty good, too.) The movie also suffers from a very strange shift in tone: the first ninety minutes are best described as Shaymalanesque, with occasional flashes of ultraviolence, and then suddenly we're in Miller's Crossing. It lets us off the hook, in short—which is not something that I would have expected from the director who once showed us Geena Davis giving birth to a giant maggot.