Eastern Promises (2007)

If you liked A History of Violence, you will love this movie. Eastern Promises tells the tale of a Russian mob in England on the verge of coming apart after the boss impregnates and eventually is responsible for the death of a 14 year old, while the child survives. This movie verges on being amazing; I cannot put it up there with films like Training Day or Usual Suspects, but Eastern Promises is really good. In Mortenson and Watts, this film gives us two of the most underrated actors in Hollywood. Viggo is excellent as always; his Russian alone in this film was Oscar-worthy. The character that he plays is not that dissimilar from A History of Violence, but nonetheless, he plays the part spectacularly. Naomi Watts is great; unsurprisingly, she has a very Nicole Kidman-esque air about her. She was perfectly cast, and really does an excellent job in this film. The entire film is extremely well acted, especially for people who, for the most part, are not speaking with their natural accents. In the middle of this Eastern Promises, there is a great twist that I did not at all see coming, followed by another great plot move that really makes this movie interesting. The end of the film is slightly predictable and possibly a little too happy, but there is a great moment of ambiguity as the film closes that really makes it great. The first hour of Eastern Promises, I would not say is slow, but it is really hard to see where this movie is going until the action kicks in about midway through. There is an incredibly intense, amazing naked fight scene that alone makes this film worth seeing. My wife did not watch this with me, it is not really her kind of movie, but like I said, if you liked A History of Violence, this one is for you. I give Easter Promises 3 and a half stars.