Eastern Promises

September 21, 2007

Rated: R Runtime: 100 min Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

David Cronenberg used to make horror films that were ickier than other people’s horror films.

Eastern Promises He’s moved on to thrillers, but they still have that Cronenberg touch. Within the first few minutes of this film, we see a throat cut, someone else hemorrhaging, and a baby covered in placenta.

The director teams up again with Viggo Mortensen (A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE). This time it’s a tale of Russian gangsters in London.

A teenage junkie dies in childbirth, leaving a baby. A hospital’s midwife (Naomi Watts) tries to find how to get the baby to her relatives. This leads her to a Russian restaurant, whose kindly owner may be a Russian gangster. Viggo Mortensen is his chauffeur, but seems conflicted about the life of crime he’s locked into.

Unfortunately, the midwife soon knows too much about the crime family, putting her and her family at risk.

The depiction of Russian gangsters is pretty much like every other movie depicting Russian gangsters. They’re more viscious than the Corleones. And they like bathhouses. But Cronenberg makes it distinctive.

Since this comes on the heels of SHOOT ‘EM UP, another movie about dangerous men and a baby, it should be pointed out that this is not a nonstop actionfest. This is a movie of violence waiting to happen. And it’s got Cronenberg’s desire to make violence realistic. There’s a showdown in a Russian bathhouse that puts the viscera in visceral.

It’s a good taut thriller, wrapped around showing people who are aliens in another land. And the finale goes in direction I wasn’t expecting.

Posted by Mack Guffin | Filed Under 4 Stars, Action, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Drama, Naomi Watts, R, Theatrical, Thriller, Viggo Mortensen, Vincent Cassel