Acclaimed German filmmaker Wim Wenders sets his sights on America's rough-and-tumble popular culture in the drama The End of Violence (1997). Bill Pullman plays Mike Max, a producer of luridly violent Hollywood movies. He's so enthralled with the creation of his latest blood-and-guts epic that he barely notices the departure of his wife, Page (Andie MacDowell). Mike eventually gets kidnapped by thugs but escapes and hides out with his gardener. In the meantime, surveillance expert Ray Bering (Gabriel Byrne) is scouring Los Angeles with high-tech cameras, looking for crime. The End of Violence is a deep meditation made sweet by a shirtless and sexy K. Todd Freeman.