I've heard the directing and acting in this movie is amazing, but that the script is the movie's weakest element.

Can't wait to see this Friday.

I keep hearing the script is fine, it's just the overall plot doesn't reach far.

Caught a sneak preview of this in Sacramento tonight...

Excellent film, a good follow-up to A History of Violence. Not as brutal as some would suggest. It had intermittent violence, but never really hit the level of its predecessor. Very deliberately-paced, not a fast movie. Viggo of course reigned supreme, he continues to astound with his versatility. And yes, it did have an overdose of Mini-Viggo in the bathhouse scene. Shocking for an American film.

Yay!!! It's playing 10 minutes walk from my work and 50 minutes after I clock out.

I liked it better than History of Violence. It had (IMO of course) a better story, dialogue and the resolution kicked ass. If this is a spoiler I will cut myself again with a box-cutter: Cronenberg has the absolutely best fake blood I have ever, ever seen in a movie in this one. There wasn’t pervasive violence but when it occurred it seemed as disturbing as it would in life. The naked fight scene is awesome provided the sight of someone else’s penis and scrotum don’t give you fits (I attended 5 years life drawing so I’m kinda over that shit). The nakedness works incredibly well to underscore the vulnerability of the human form to attack.
If you’ve dug Cronenberg’s stuff throughout his whole career, I’d recommend rolling the dice on this one.

About some others’ opinions on the resolution VS mine:


But seriously: If your SO's express any disdain for violence you will not be getting any props for dragging them to this. Once again-Not a lot but some of the best realistic violence in a while.

Fantastic film from start to finish.

Awesome film!!! More meditative in some scenes but never really takes you out of the story. I've never seen any movie before that dwells into some of the rites of passage within the Russian mafia so a lot of it looked so refreshingly ugly (in a positive way).

Though one would expect the "in-your-face" violence from Cronenberg, there were still some parts here that made me wince.

This finally opens here in my city and its the first film I'll see this w/e. Can't wait!!!

I can wait to check this one out... looks GREAT!

Cronenberg and Mortensen have a very strange relationship to say the least. He tells him to ruin his career by taking on increasingly creepy roles, he does it, he tells him to get naked, he gets naked... See this picture:

Add to the equation creepy Vincent Cassel who really lives in the shadow of his famous father, Jean-Pierre Cassel, and who is gainfully employed, most of the time, as Monica ("Irréversible") Bellucci's agent/pimp/lover and I'd say Viggo has fallen in with a bad crowd of irresponsible snuff porn addicts/exhibitionists. Wouldn't you?

I wouldn't be surprised if in their next picture together Cronenberg asks Viggo to mount Monica while Vincent looks on. That should sell a few tickets.

Yeah, that often ruins careers. Just ask sir Anthony Hopkins.

Yep, first actor to do a nude scene too.

Are you worried that one of them got cooties?


I'm not sure what you're getting at.

Nice threadcrap. And this has to do with the film, How??

I'm getting at nothing. I just thought I'd borrow a page from Cronenberg's book: plant the seeds of doubt and let the mature reader/viewer draw his own conclusions.

There are no easy answers, just easy money.

Saw this tonight...excellent film.

How does this compare to History of Violence? I found HOV to be a good film, but slow film. Is this similar in aspects of action and drama etc?

I loved History of Violence, and can't wait to see this.

As for the relationship mentioned above, I read in a gossip site somewhere that they had a master/slave type of thing going. I don't believe it, but those type of rumours are out there.

I thought Eastern Promises was a little bit better than History of Violence, and I didn't think 'Promises' was slow at all. It was pretty intense from start to finish.

Chilling mob drama with the bloody, disturbing Cronenberg touch. Mortensen's riveting, subdued performance ranks as one of the best this year. Only negatives are the film itself wasn't groundbreaking or particularly terrific. Just very very good.

8/10

One of the better films of the year, even if it lacked a bit of substance.

Do you really think it's a bad career move to star in two films that have enjoyed enormously positive critical reception and hauled in tons of film festival awards? I mean, I can't think of anything that is going to kill a career faster than critical praise and commercial success.

I think you just like to make authoritative pronouncements based on nothing other than your provinicial, narrow sense of good taste.

I can't tell you, though, how pleased I am to know that your tax dollars paid for "Videodrome."

I am a big fan of Cronenberg's more recent work. I like his use of effects in previous films to physically manifest the descent and transformation of his characters as gross deformities, but his recent films have taken a more sophisticated approach to his traditional theme, rather than breaking from it.

In "Spider," the transformation takes place entirely in the character's mind. Likewise, in "A History of Violence," the transformation occurs in a different context, as Joey Cusack remakes himself as Tom Stall, and then seems to revert, with the two personas ultimately blurring the character's identity, in much the same way the brothers' personalities blurred into each other in "Dead Ringers."

I really liked this. Granted, it wasn't quite as cerebral or visceral as some of his previous work, but I thought it was (as expected) extremely well made, and with a great cast. What makes Cronenberg films work for me so much at this point is you can feel how comfortable he is behind the camera, so much of the film has a certain warmth to it if that makes any sense. Viggo was awesome in his role. I'm glad he makes good choices when choosing his roles because he's a great actor to watch. Naomi gave a great performance and looked just as good. I really liked Armin a lot. He was so cunning and intense, you never would have guessed who he was right off the bat, as obviously Naomi didn't either.

I would have liked to spend some more time in that world. There were some things that I wanted to have explained further, fleshed out a bit more so to speak. The ending seemed a little abrupt to me. I expected things to go a little further than they did, but overall I thought it was excellent. 8/10.

Saw this over the weekend. Easily on my top 10 films of 2007 for sure.

Excellent movie and a good follow up after A History of Violence. Top notch performances and lots of Cronenberg's signature elements - only thing that stopped me from really liking it was the overly cold, clinical feel to the whole thing...it felt very - um....Russian. Still one of the years better movies hands down though and the infamous scene lived up to the hype, very intense stuff.

Director David Cronenberg has become a very economical filmmaker, which produced a well-paced film, "Eastern Promises", but not at the expense of sustaining suspense and chills where appropriate.

In London, even the most respectable of establishments can hide some dark secrets and illegal commerce. It is the birth of child by an unwed teen which provides the catalyst for the film, and propels Anna (Naomi Watts), a midwife, into finding a home for the child (mother dies during delivery), and she finds much more in her search, which leads her to encountering Nikolai the driver (Viggo Mortensen, I think almost shoo-in for best actor Oscar nomination), Seymon the Russian emigrant who seemingly hosts dinner parties at his dining establishment (Armin Mueller-Stahl could also nab a best supporting actor nomination), and Kirill the son of Seymon (Vincent Cassel) whose shortcomings somewhat disappoint his father at times.

To say anymore would undercut the story and drama that unfolds, but be assured that it's well-told and entertaining for an adult audience not too squeamish by some bits of well-timed violent encounters.

I give it 3.5 stars, or a grade of B+.