Eastern Promises
The Pitch: “The Godfather” with a Russian twist.
The Good: Viggo Mortensen owns every second he is own the screen. Armin Mueller-Stahl quietly demands to be watched and heard in every scene — which is exactly what is needed as the kind restaurant owner, family man and head of a Russian mob. The killings in the public bath — brutal, but believable. The twist near the end — I totally did not see it coming and loved it.
The Bad: The movie is slow to get started and then moves at a steady pace. The violence is there, but not as bad as you may have heard.
The Ugly: “Okay. Now I’m going to do his teeth and cut off his fingers. You might want to leave room.”
The Summary: “Eastern Promises” is a brutal look at the Russian mafia. Viggo Mortensen gives an Oscar-worthy performance as the “driver.” The violence may put some off, but it grounds the movie’s reality. I have a feeling that this one is going to grow on me as time passes.
I recently acted with Tamer Husan who was in the fight scene in the Turkish baths. He was the star of The business & Football factory, top guy 🙂
Judge Monty
Viggo is intense.
Jazzman
I saw this in the theater and I really enjoyed it. I didn’t like it as much as History of Violence. I do own EP on DVD but haven’t watched it again, I’ve been meaning to, just to see how I like it on the second viewing.
Slyclone
RockyB76, one of us is reading the movie wrong then. I didn’t see a romance. I saw a kiss of affection for what they’d been through. He was going to stay in his position and she was going with her family to a safe location. It was one of the things I thought made the move work.
the movie is good but i dont think they should let the audience see Viggo’s johnson in the bathhouse fight scene.
jomos
Jul 16, 2008, 10:21pm, jomos wrote:
the movie is good but i dont think they should let the audience see Viggo’s johnson in the bathhouse fight scene.
You know, a LOT, was made of that scene. Truthfully, the violence had my attention more than anything else.
This trailer’s been around for a while, but I hope they release a new trailer soon.
crowmagnumman