The Dilated Pupil's Reviews

First off, this movie looks fantastic. David Cronenberg and Peter Suschitzky (Tha freaking Empire Strikes Back!) are back for their 8th movie together and it's incredible. Naomi Watts and Viggo Mortensen play the yin and yang roles with Armin Mueller-Stahl playing something else entirely. Eastern Promises is not for those with a weak stomach as the violence is very real, very personal; very Cronenberg. There aren't any shaky cam gun fights or dispassionate Bourne style confrontations. Each line of dialog in the movie, each camera movement, each scene feels deliberate. This is a great "mob flick" set against the Russian underground in modern day London.

I wanted more.

The most terrifying things in the movie are never put on screen but merely referenced here and there which adds texture to the characters. In fact, it hit me later in the film just how flippantly the characters spoke of unspeakable acts. This is where the shock really was for me. Oh, and it has the best fight scene in any movie. Ever.

Did I mention this movie looked amazing?! We watched it on Blu-ray and for maybe the first time I felt like the PS3 was worth the money.

If you've been suffering through mindless action movies you owe it to yourself to watch the best mob movie I've seen in years.