| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
From director J.J. Abrams comes the next installment in the Star Trek saga, Star Trek Into Darkness. See it at Cinemark theaters now and pre-order on Blu-ray, 3D Blu-ray, DVD, and the Exclusive Starfleet Phaser Gift Set. Shop Star Trek Into Darkness and more in the Star Trek Store. Learn more |
Frequently Bought Together
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images? |
Special Features
None.
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
David Cronenberg's signature obsessions flower in Eastern Promises, a stunning look at violence, responsibility, and skin. Near Christmastime in London, a baby is born to a teenage junkie--an event that leads a midwife (Naomi Watts) into the world of the Russian mob. Central to this world is an ambitious enforcer (Viggo Mortensen) who's lately buddied up with the reckless son (Vincent Cassel) of a mob boss (Armin Mueller-Stahl, doing his benign-sinister thing). Screenwriter Steve Knight also wrote Dirty Pretty Things, and in some ways this is a companion piece to that film, though utterly different in style. The plot is classical to the point of being familiar, but Cronenberg doesn't allow anything to become sentimental; he and his peerless cinematographer Peter Suschitzky take a cool, controlled approach to this story. Because of that, when the movie erupts in its (relatively brief) violence, it's genuinely shocking. Cronenberg really puts the viewer through it, as though to shame the easy purveyors of pulp violence--nobody will cheer when the blood runs in this film. Still, Eastern Promises has a furtive humor, nicely conveyed in Viggo Mortensen's highly original performance. Covered in tattoos, his body a scroll depicting his personal history of violence, Mortensen conveys a subtle blend of resolve and lost-ness. He's a true, haunting mystery man. --Robert Horton
Stills from Eastern Promises (click for larger image). Photos by Peter Mountain.
Product Description
Viggo Mortensen and Academy Award® nominee Naomi Watts star in this electrifying thriller from critically acclaimed director David Cronenberg (A History of Violence). Criminal mastermind Nikolai (Mortensen) finds his ties to a notorious crime family shaken when he crosses paths with Anna (Watts), a midwife who has accidentally uncovered evidence against them. Their unusual relationship sets off an unstoppable chain of murder, mystery and deception in the explosive film critics are calling "provocative and engrossing" (Claudia Puig, USA Today).
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
123 of 132 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
I emphasized the "ADULT-THEMED" idea in my title because one of the best things about seeing a film like EASTERN PROMISES is that it is so adult, so uncompromised. Cronenberg gets to make the movies he wants to, and it doesn't have to be watered down or dumbed-down to make it sell to a broad audience. We get a brutal, sometimes squirm-inducing look at a underworld we haven't seen like this before...and there's no gloss, no pandering to a teen audience, no sappy ending, etc. etc. The ending is SATISFYING...but it isn't easy or "Hollywood."
First of all, the script is outstanding. From the creator of another stunning film about London's "seamy underbelly," DIRTY PRETTY THINGS...the plot makes sense, the threads all come together and the characters are simply but sharply delineated. Yet at no time do I feel the themes are being spoon-fed. Also, some of the acts that are perpetrated on Viggo Mortensen's character near the end of the film are acts of amazing betrayal...yet if you haven't been paying attention, you might miss that. It's not a super-complex plot...but it doesn't grab you by the hand and lead you from place to place.
Speaking of Mortensen...this is his best performance ever. Granted, Aragon is crown-jewel, and he handled it well...but those films were events, such spectacle that often what he simply needed to do was wear his costume, ride his horse and look great. In EASTERN PROMISES, he has to make us care about a very nasty piece of work indeed. He's also very stony-faced...so much of what we learn about him, especially early on, comes from very subtle work. Again, each word of the script is perfectly chosen, and Mortensen digs deep here. He's not always my favorite actor...I actually wasn't nuts about him in A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE (A film I otherwise greatly admired)...but he's perfectly cast here. And of course, he's amazing to watch in the now infamous nude fight scene. It's a little bit distracting being aware of male full-frontal nudity flashing around...almost enough to take one out of the scene...but the scene is so well staged that the sheer PAIN of it soon wipes out any feeling of "hey, we get to see ALL of Viggo Mortensen."
Armin Mueller-Stahl plays the older patriarch of the Russian mafia family, and he's the best of this type of character I've seen in awhile. You know the one...the old gangster who is so sweet and loving to the youngsters in his family, so polite and full of grace and manners. Picture Brando in the wedding scenes of THE GODFATHER or even Paul Newman in early scenes of ROAD TO PERDITION. Stahl is even better...his eyes twinkle with charm. But boy, when the mask drops and we see the real guy...still soft-spoken and considered...he's stunningly evil. I really enjoyed seeing him again...it seems like it's been awhile since he was in a film.
Vincent Cassel plays Stahl's hot-headed son...another gangster cliche...the kid who is supposed to take over the business, but is actually a bit of a moron and troublemaker. But again, the character has surprises up its sleeve. Also, Naomi Watts plays the nurse who brings a motherless baby unwittingly into this underworld...and she is reliably good. Her character doesn't get to have all the dramatic flourishes...but Watts gives another patented, fully committed, honest performance. I believe she may be our most under-rated actress, even though she has been nominated for awards and starred in many films...I think she's still undervalued. EASTERN PROMISES won't win her new fans or an Oscar...but she is still very good.
Notice I didn't talk much about the plot. Others have done it better, and to be honest, I'd love it if you just went to see the film having little idea of what you were about to experience. It's a brutal journey...but it is full of unexpected turns...not just of plot but of character. I'll bet come year end, this will still be one of my favorites of the year! Highly, highly recommended for ADULT audiences!!
First of all, the script is outstanding. From the creator of another stunning film about London's "seamy underbelly," DIRTY PRETTY THINGS...the plot makes sense, the threads all come together and the characters are simply but sharply delineated. Yet at no time do I feel the themes are being spoon-fed. Also, some of the acts that are perpetrated on Viggo Mortensen's character near the end of the film are acts of amazing betrayal...yet if you haven't been paying attention, you might miss that. It's not a super-complex plot...but it doesn't grab you by the hand and lead you from place to place.
Speaking of Mortensen...this is his best performance ever. Granted, Aragon is crown-jewel, and he handled it well...but those films were events, such spectacle that often what he simply needed to do was wear his costume, ride his horse and look great. In EASTERN PROMISES, he has to make us care about a very nasty piece of work indeed. He's also very stony-faced...so much of what we learn about him, especially early on, comes from very subtle work. Again, each word of the script is perfectly chosen, and Mortensen digs deep here. He's not always my favorite actor...I actually wasn't nuts about him in A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE (A film I otherwise greatly admired)...but he's perfectly cast here. And of course, he's amazing to watch in the now infamous nude fight scene. It's a little bit distracting being aware of male full-frontal nudity flashing around...almost enough to take one out of the scene...but the scene is so well staged that the sheer PAIN of it soon wipes out any feeling of "hey, we get to see ALL of Viggo Mortensen."
Armin Mueller-Stahl plays the older patriarch of the Russian mafia family, and he's the best of this type of character I've seen in awhile. You know the one...the old gangster who is so sweet and loving to the youngsters in his family, so polite and full of grace and manners. Picture Brando in the wedding scenes of THE GODFATHER or even Paul Newman in early scenes of ROAD TO PERDITION. Stahl is even better...his eyes twinkle with charm. But boy, when the mask drops and we see the real guy...still soft-spoken and considered...he's stunningly evil. I really enjoyed seeing him again...it seems like it's been awhile since he was in a film.
Vincent Cassel plays Stahl's hot-headed son...another gangster cliche...the kid who is supposed to take over the business, but is actually a bit of a moron and troublemaker. But again, the character has surprises up its sleeve. Also, Naomi Watts plays the nurse who brings a motherless baby unwittingly into this underworld...and she is reliably good. Her character doesn't get to have all the dramatic flourishes...but Watts gives another patented, fully committed, honest performance. I believe she may be our most under-rated actress, even though she has been nominated for awards and starred in many films...I think she's still undervalued. EASTERN PROMISES won't win her new fans or an Oscar...but she is still very good.
Notice I didn't talk much about the plot. Others have done it better, and to be honest, I'd love it if you just went to see the film having little idea of what you were about to experience. It's a brutal journey...but it is full of unexpected turns...not just of plot but of character. I'll bet come year end, this will still be one of my favorites of the year! Highly, highly recommended for ADULT audiences!!
33 of 36 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
EASTERN PROMISES as written by Steven Knight and directed by David Cronenberg is one of the grittiest, insightful, and well-acted films of the year. Maintaining his keen eye for the dark side of life and the people who dwell in its shadows, Cronenberg has once again brought us characters so strongly etched on film that they will be remembered for many years.
The setting is London where lives the enigmatic Russian-born Nikolai Luzhin (Viggo Mortensen in an Oscar caliber performance) who serves as a driver for a cloaked mysterious Russian family, members of the Russian mafia called the Vory V Zakone, a bizarre brotherhood populated with men whose lives of crime are told in tattooed stories on their bodies. The head of the family is the elegant restaurateur Semyon (Armin Mueller-Stahl) whose son Kirill (Vincent Cassel) carries on the crime aspects of the family but shows no role of leadership in his dissipated life style. As the film opens we observe the birth of a little girl to a drug-addled mother Tatiana (Sarah-Jeanne Labrosse): she dies during childbirth having been delivered by a midwife Anna (Naomi Watts) who herself has a history of a stillborn child. Anna finds a diary in Tatiana's purse, saves it, and takes it to her uncle to translate it form the Russian. Opening the diary opens dark secrets for Semyon and Kirill: Tatiana was apparently one of the many illegal Russian prostitutes imported by the Vory V Zakone crime syndication and was raped by Semyon whose daughter was born as Tatiana died. Anna's investigation as to the baby's heritage includes the invaluable help of Nikolai who despite his past has a soft spot for Anna and her plight and it is the manner in which the interplay of Anna, Semyon, Kirill and Nikolai works out that brings the film to its conclusion.
The acting is impeccable with Mortensen, Watts, Cassell, and Mueller-Stahl at peak form. Cameo roles by Sinéad Cusack and Jerzy Skolimowski, among others, are fully fleshed. The accents are believable and the multiple tattoos on Mortensen's body (seen fully in the much ballyhooed bathhouse scene, more about killing than about voyeurism) match the dark, dank atmosphere well captured by the cinematographer Peter Suschitzky and echoed with the musical score by Howard Shore. This is a tough movie for the squeamish to watch, but the story is superb and the film is Cronenberg at his best. Grady Harp, December 07
The setting is London where lives the enigmatic Russian-born Nikolai Luzhin (Viggo Mortensen in an Oscar caliber performance) who serves as a driver for a cloaked mysterious Russian family, members of the Russian mafia called the Vory V Zakone, a bizarre brotherhood populated with men whose lives of crime are told in tattooed stories on their bodies. The head of the family is the elegant restaurateur Semyon (Armin Mueller-Stahl) whose son Kirill (Vincent Cassel) carries on the crime aspects of the family but shows no role of leadership in his dissipated life style. As the film opens we observe the birth of a little girl to a drug-addled mother Tatiana (Sarah-Jeanne Labrosse): she dies during childbirth having been delivered by a midwife Anna (Naomi Watts) who herself has a history of a stillborn child. Anna finds a diary in Tatiana's purse, saves it, and takes it to her uncle to translate it form the Russian. Opening the diary opens dark secrets for Semyon and Kirill: Tatiana was apparently one of the many illegal Russian prostitutes imported by the Vory V Zakone crime syndication and was raped by Semyon whose daughter was born as Tatiana died. Anna's investigation as to the baby's heritage includes the invaluable help of Nikolai who despite his past has a soft spot for Anna and her plight and it is the manner in which the interplay of Anna, Semyon, Kirill and Nikolai works out that brings the film to its conclusion.
The acting is impeccable with Mortensen, Watts, Cassell, and Mueller-Stahl at peak form. Cameo roles by Sinéad Cusack and Jerzy Skolimowski, among others, are fully fleshed. The accents are believable and the multiple tattoos on Mortensen's body (seen fully in the much ballyhooed bathhouse scene, more about killing than about voyeurism) match the dark, dank atmosphere well captured by the cinematographer Peter Suschitzky and echoed with the musical score by Howard Shore. This is a tough movie for the squeamish to watch, but the story is superb and the film is Cronenberg at his best. Grady Harp, December 07
47 of 54 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
I'm actually not sure how to describe this movie, but I'll give it my best shot. First of all, Viggo Mortensen is outstanding as Nikolai, a driver and enforcer for the Russian Mafia, and full time baby-sitter to Kirill, the wayward son of Mafia boss Semyon. He's one cold, emotionless dude when he has to be, but has a human side that peeps out ever so often from behind that steely, chiseled mug.
Vincent Cassel (Kirill) and Armin Mueller-Stahl (Semyon) are also extremely convincing, the former as a violent drunk and the latter as the charming and affable, but very cruel father. Naomi Watts doesn't light up the screen and steal the show as she normally does, but it could be the depressing role of Anna, a midwife who delivers a baby for a fourteen year old girl who doesn't make it off the operating table.
Anne Frank may have left a more famous diary, but the diary of the unfortunate young woman is so revealing that some people are prepared to kill to keep the contents from being brought to light.
Fascinating in some aspects, such as the story behind the tattoos, and graphic in quite a few others, including a memorable scene with a totally nude Viggo battling against guys with linoleum knives, I found some parts a bit too long and drawn out, and some too predictable.
Never-the-less, the acting, the casting and the intensity of this drama make it extremely watchable (if you like this movie genre), and although it isn't going to be one of my favorite movies, it certainly is worth mentioning here.
Amanda Richards, December 9, 2007
Vincent Cassel (Kirill) and Armin Mueller-Stahl (Semyon) are also extremely convincing, the former as a violent drunk and the latter as the charming and affable, but very cruel father. Naomi Watts doesn't light up the screen and steal the show as she normally does, but it could be the depressing role of Anna, a midwife who delivers a baby for a fourteen year old girl who doesn't make it off the operating table.
Anne Frank may have left a more famous diary, but the diary of the unfortunate young woman is so revealing that some people are prepared to kill to keep the contents from being brought to light.
Fascinating in some aspects, such as the story behind the tattoos, and graphic in quite a few others, including a memorable scene with a totally nude Viggo battling against guys with linoleum knives, I found some parts a bit too long and drawn out, and some too predictable.
Never-the-less, the acting, the casting and the intensity of this drama make it extremely watchable (if you like this movie genre), and although it isn't going to be one of my favorite movies, it certainly is worth mentioning here.
Amanda Richards, December 9, 2007
Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Cronenberg and Mortenson create another tense thriller
This film is the second successful colloboration of David Cronenberg and actor Viggo Mortneson following their "A History of Violence" and Mortenson also appear later as... Read more
Published 21 days ago by Dennis W. Wong
4.0 out of 5 stars
The dvd played flawlessly.
I have seen the movie before, just looking for a reliable dvd with sharp picture and I got it Amazon.
Published 1 month ago by Chris Morisette
3.0 out of 5 stars
Over-acted
I was expecting great things since Vigo is so good, but didn't get much. There was constant "over-acting" like you see in a high school play which makes you realize you're... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Seattle Spils
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good.
Good, it was quite good. And it was also quite good and now I only have a few more words to go.
Published 1 month ago by Chris Stocks
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent movie with amazing actors
This movie is fantastic. It's the perfect mix of mob, mystery, and violence! I would highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys crime dramas.
Published 2 months ago by Natalie Stewart
5.0 out of 5 stars
Eastern Promises delivers.
This is an EXTRAORDINARY film. However, it is also a story involving an extremely violent portrayal of Russian mob violence. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Sandra S Gaylord
3.0 out of 5 stars
Slightly dissappointed
After reading quite a few good reviews of this film, I was slightly disappointed. I liked it, thought it was good, but not as good as I hoped.
Published 3 months ago by Secret Agent
5.0 out of 5 stars
Two fne actors
I'm a fan of both the leads in this movie and i think it was well made. the product was in great condtion and was delivered post hast. many thanks
Published 3 months ago by little budda
5.0 out of 5 stars
Eastern Promises
Mortensen is one of my favorite actors. This film is a bit on the darker side involving sex slaves. Read more
Published 3 months ago by karen leslie hamilton
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great acting subtle direction
THis movie has some terrific acting from Viggo Mortenson, and some very low key diretion from Cronenburg. Read more
Published 3 months ago by paul Henderson
