by Paddy C

Created on: January 29, 2008

The verdict: Well realised, immersive, slightly off-beat tale of Russian gangsters in London. It's violent, and even features naked fighting... but Mortensen is frighteningly good.

The rating: 7/10

Eastern Promises may sound, as someone pointed out to me today, like a 'special interest' movie, or perhaps the new slogan for Turkish Delight, (ah, remember them?) but don't be fooled readers, for it's actually the title of the latest movie from the fledgling Cronenberg-Mortensen Axis of Quality.

Lately I've been trying to catch up on some of the better movies from 2007 that I missed. Eastern Promises was very near the top of that list, and it didn't disappoint.

I probably wouldn't be alone in associating Cronenberg with his legacy of above average psychological horror flicks from the eighties and nineties. Videodrome, The Fly, Dead Ringers, the marvellously surreal ExistenZ, and of course Crash (yuck) shocked and provoked audiences with their schlocky, sinister atmosphere, but movies like 'The Naked Lunch' and more recently 'Spider' have hinted at an ambitious streak in Cronenberg, perhaps a desire to move away from the horror genre and tackle more mainstream material.

Now, he hasn't quite done that, but he certainly hasn't sold out his roots in violent, provocative cinema either. With the excellent 'A History of Violence', however, Cronenberg recruited Viggo Mortensen, headed in a slightly different direction, and made something remarkable. 'History of Violence' was notably different in themes from his previous work, but still retained the signature style and tense atmosphere that elevated his horror movies above the average. Eastern Promises continues that trajectory.

Mortensen returns as a London-based Russian gangster named Nikolai, working for a shady restauaranteur named Semyon. Meanwhile, Anna (Naomi Watts) is a mid-wife working at Trafalgar hospital. When a 14-year-old Russian girl dies in childbirth, leaving no clue behind as to her identity save a diary written entirely in her mother tongue, the paths of these two characters begin to cross. The diary is essentially a Pandora's Box, with Watts warned repeatedly to stay away and let it be. Thankfully however, she ignores these warnings, and the audience is plunged into this dark, previously unexplored corner of London.

Mortensen turns in a really great performance as Nikolai, sporting a marvellously quifftastic hairdo, and all the lazy inscrutable mannerisms of the Russian bodyguard who might want to toast a drink

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>