David Cronenberg's follow-up to his hugely successful masterpiece A History of Violence stars Viggo Mortensen as a member of the Russian mob who, once he crosses paths with Anna (Watts), an innocent midwife, must put into motion such badness as murder, deceit, and retribution.
Rated R for strong brutal and bloody violence, some graphic sexuality, language and nudity
...an academic meditation in underworld-thriller drag -- a movie that looks about as close to a straight-ahead, down-and-dirty genre entertainment as anything the director has made since his exploding-head horror days.
The rigor of Mr. Cronenberg’s direction sometimes seems at odds with the humanism of Mr. Knight’s script, but more often the director’s ruthless formal command rescues the story from its maudlin impulses. Mr. Knight aims earnestly for your heartstrings, but Mr. Cronenberg insists on getting under your skin. The result is a movie whose images and implications are likely to stay in your head for a long time.
Expertly realized and gunmetal slick, Eastern Promises whirs along with perfect efficiency, but doesn't stir much in the way of visceral horror despite its penchant for treating the human body like a chicken carcass on a block.
People
Leah Rozen
8
...another entrallingly pulpy but affecting and multilayered crime drama from maverick director David Cronenberg.
It does indeed have much to recommend, including Mortensen's seething performance, but does it live up to its brilliant predecessor? Unfortunately, it doesn't; but it's still worth seeing for Cronenberg fans.
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This movie is available on DVD/Video
ALL AVERAGE CRITIC RATING
7.6
AVERAGE USER RATING (12 ratings)
8.2
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USER REVIEWS:
sme9
Excellent creeper of a movie that unsettles and is full of suprises. Cronenbergs voice rings a lot clearer in this one than in History of Violence. While I liked HOV fine, Eastern Promises feels like it's a more personal story for the director and therefore told with much more authority. Good stuff. The naked Viggo fight scene is already in my hall of fame.
Oracle8
Anna (Naomi Watts) stumbles across the dead body of a 14 year old Ukranian prostitute; as her conscience pecks at her to find out exactly who is responsible, she takes it upon herself to crack the case—and sooner or later, in typical Cronenbergian fashion, characters—including Nikolai, played by he fantastic Viggo Mortensen—deadly secrets, and insidious doings are uncovered. Throughout the film, hints of his masterpiece
<" href="http://cin-o-matic.com/m.php?MID=1028">A History of Violence are mimicked, particularly in tone and tension; as usual, there's this whole creepy and perfectly realized mood that more than efficiently perpetuates the fine acting with the causticly stark narrative. Gradually escalating it progresses (climaxing with naked Viggo fight scene, which is pure mastery; it unfolds in almost real time, and you can even feel the death just as in the last sequence in Violence), Eastern Promises is, furthermore, proof that Cronenberg is one hell of a director; it is an enthralling and hellish film, as well as an unforgettable one.
chunkbot8
I liked this better than History of Violence, but Naomi Watts wasn't as good as Maria Bello as the female lead. Why do russian gangster tatoos look so bad ass? Oh yeah because they are.
This movie is available on DVD/Video