Eastern Promises (2007)

 ARE YOU PEOPLE KIDDING?????
This review of Eastern Promises will be short and sweet (sorta). With critically acclaimed reviews and high high expectations, this movie was by far the BIGGEST disappointment of any movie I have seen in the last year (besides Michael Clayton, sorry George, wrong script to choose). I am a fan of Viggo Mortensen and think he is a great actor, but not only was his character somewhat dull but he barely said anything throughout the movie. I know, that's a small issue. The big issue at hand is the how ridiculously slow this movie moved. My husband and I are movie fanatics and were bored to death watching this movie. Also in many reviews people said the ending was a crazy twist and a huge surprise. Well, I will compare the movie to a wilting rose, it got worse and worse as the movie went on. If you are down with watching a movie that will bore you to tears and make you want to hurt yourself while watching the film, be my guest. But, if you would rather spend your time doing something worthwhile, PLEASE HEED MY WORDS AND WATCH ANOTHER MOVIE THAT HAS A POINT, A WELL WRITTEN PLOT, GOOD CINEMATOGRAPHY, MUSIC, ACTING, ETC... (TRY PAN'S LABYRINTH AND LET GUILLERMO DEL TORO TAKE YOUR BREATH AWAY WITH A PURE MASTERPIECE) May 11, 2008

 One of the greatest projects of 2007!
The progressive artistic decantation of David Cronenberg through all these years is more than obvious. Since "Spider", "A history of violence" and now with his "Eastern promises" have become him a true referential director, with a very personal style and absolute domain of the cinematographic language. His films are featured by a distinctive expression without necessarily falling into a "commercial label". He just leaves besides unanswered questions, like this terrible fact around the presence of the Russian mob in London.

Cronenberg makes of the violence not a goal but a device to justify it as a mere surviving mechanism. Two well opposite extremes of an ethic chain like a nurse and a driver of the son of a well known "Russian Godfather" will involve themselves around a painful circumstance.

The entire cast was splendid, but it's worthy to remark the impressive performance of Vigo Mortensen as the cold driver and the absorbing acting of Armin Mûller Stahl (Symeon) one of the ten best living actors in the world , make of this original proposal a must see.

Don't miss it!
May 5, 2008

 Not what I expected.
I really thought this movie would have been better. It had a good storyline attached to it but I expected more action and I definately didn't expect such a lame ending. I wouldn't have minded the lack of action if there was a much better ending. I would rent before I buy. May 1, 2008

 2.5 Stars. Could have been...
When I saw the previews for this film, I expected a movie like the "Godfather" with the Russian mafia instead of the Italian. For the most part, that is exactly what it was. I loved the Godfather, but too many flaws in this film prevented me from enjoying it nearly as much.

First, the good points. Viggo Mortensen was superb in the role of Nikolai. His accent sounded good, and he fit the part well. His reserved demeanor and soft-spoken dialog lull a viewer until he erupts into surprising violence. The oft-mentioned sauna scene where he fights naked is both shocking and realistic. It was graphic violence that I could not look away from, and fully illustrated the dangerous world he was living in. In fact, there is very little violence but when it does pop up, it is almost always shocking because the rest of the film was so slow. This is not an in your face gangster movie; at times it was plodding. The producers did an excellent job of developing and maintaining the mystery of Nikolai. What are his motivations? Who is he? When it was finally revealed, it was a nice twist. Plus, I loved the parts about the tattoos and their meaning. It really added something to the film. Finally, the setting and lighting were fabulous. The movie was visually, as well as thematically, gritty. I felt like I was in London, in a Russian neighborhood.

However, the movie had many problems. First, I agree with some reviewers that Naomi Watt's character was too one-dimensional and unbelievably stupid. What ordinary person upon hearing what's in that diary rushes out to verbally attack a mobster!? Come on! Especially in light of her father fleeing Russia and possibly the KGB. The second problem, and by far the more serious, was the dialog in Russian. I would hazard a guess that at least 35% of the dialog in in Russia - with no subtitles. I watched this On Demand with my family, and we wondered if it was supposed to have subtitles after all? If not, what a bad choice. A few lines here and there to build authenticity and remind viewers of the subject would have been fine. But, entire conversations where I had no clue what they were saying and no body language to convey the meaning either? This was one problem that I could not overcome. Some of my family found the movie boring, and I think this is a direct cause. How interesting can it be to watch people talk in a language you don't speak? And the ending. I couldn't agree more with all the viewers that hated it. It was not only unrealistic, it left viewers wondering, "That's it!? Wait, what happened to...?" I felt like I was at the end of "Kill Bill V1" only no VII is forthcoming.

Overall, this movie could have been fantastic despite the slow pace. Instead, it was disappointing. It was worth seeing for Viggo (and that unbelievable bath house scene), but rent it, don't buy. April 30, 2008

 AAAA!!!! That ending!!!!
I am so sick and effing tired of good movies with unbelievably bad endings!!!! This is a good film with (mostly) great acting and an interesting, if bleak, story. However, at the climax, just as the leads are about to engage in the final confrontation that's been building the whole movie long, the movie unforgivably skips to the epilogue. I mean it, they absolutely SKIP the ending and close with a sappy, completely unbelievable epilogue. It's just incredibly lazy writing.

This seems to happen in a lot of movies these days, just incredibly bad endings to otherwise good movies, and it makes me want to throw a bowling ball at the screen every time it happens.

See this movie if you must, but be prepared for a monumental letdown in the final reel. April 29, 2008

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