I didn't find the film to be anything special- rating it among the year's best seems a bit much IMO. (Spoilers ahead!) B-movie sounds about right though.

Maybe no big surprises were the director's intention because there were none at certain key moments. Basically it seemed like another violent (at times) mob/revenge flick. The son becoming like his father in the school scene didn't seem realistic and plausable after everything we had seen leading up to it- in how the boy behaved and reacted. Didn't buy it for a second. The cast was fine and I liked the William Hurt cameo. Cronenberg's underrated horror classic The Fly remake is definitely his high water mark as a filmmaker- THAT was brilliantly crafted, and with a witty and intelligent script as well.