...manages to blend the clashing of cultures, family resentment, ugly heritage and the unlikely promise of new life without going in circles.
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09/21/07
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Eastern Promises (2007)
88
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:33
Fresh:29
Rotten:4
Average Rating:7.5/10
Consensus: David Cronenberg triumphs again, showcasing the Viggo Mortensen's onscreen prowess in a daring performance. Bearing the trademarks of psychological drama and gritty violence, Eastern Promises is a very compelling crime story.
Runtime: 1 hr 41 mins
Genre: Thriller, Deception, Theatrical Release, Crime, Violence
Theatrical Release:Sep 14, 2007 Limited
Box Office: $17,114,882
Synopsis: The new thriller reteaming acclaimed director David Cronenberg with his A History of Violence leading man Viggo Mortensen, Eastern Promises is written by Steve Knight (Academy Award-nominated... [More]
Starring: Viggo Mortensen, Naomi Watts, Vincent Cassel, Armin Mueller-Stahl
Director: David Cronenberg
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Reviews for Eastern Promises
Top CriticEastern Promises is a straightforward, straight-up Russian gangster movie whose primary achievement is making the Russian gangster underworld feel exotic and menacing.
09/21/07
Top Critic...Eastern Promises is as honorable an entertainment as it is a humbling work of art.
09/21/07
Top CriticSuffice it to say it's a bit of primal brutality that lays bare the animal in each of us, fighting to survive.
09/20/07
Top CriticIt's a mouthful of blood with a vodka chaser.
09/20/07
Top CriticEastern Promises is a subtle and precisely calibrated work of astonishing cumulative power.
09/20/07
Top CriticI cannot easily recommend these delights to everyone, but my high regard for Mr. Cronenberg’s stylistic virtues remains largely undiminished.
09/19/07
Top CriticIf you don't mind bloodshed and are drawn to taut thrillers with fascinating characters portrayed skillfully, Eastern Promises is just the ticket.
09/15/07
Top Critic[Viggo Mortensen] lends a moral complexity to Eastern Promises that makes it much more than just a very accomplished action thriller.
09/15/07
Top CriticThis is Mortensen and Cronenberg's second collaboration -- the first was A History of Violence -- and it's turning into a beautiful friendship.
09/15/07
Top CriticA movie whose images and implications are likely to stay in your head for a long time.
09/14/07
Top Critic[Cronenberg's] most straightforward and accessible movie since The Fly.
09/14/07
Top CriticEastern Promises is the first must-see adult film of the young fall.
09/14/07
Top CriticExpertly realized and gunmetal slick, Eastern Promises whirs along with perfect efficiency, but doesn't stir much in the way of visceral horror despite its penchant for treating the human body like a chicken carcass on a block.
09/14/07
Top CriticWhat it's really about, more than sensitivity for displaced people or social analyses, is violence -- hideous, gruesome, over-the-top violence.
09/14/07
Top CriticThe film's genius performance belongs to the venerable Armin Mueller-Stahl, who plays the family head with a twinkling eye and an air of avuncular, Old World charm.
09/14/07
Top CriticA film that takes us beyond crime and London and the Russian mafia and into the mystifying realms of human nature.
09/14/07
Top CriticDavid Cronenberg's follow-up to A History of Violence lacks the theoretical dimension of its predecessor, but it's no less masterful in its fluid storytelling and shocking choreography of violence.
09/14/07
Top CriticIn Eastern Promises, David Cronenberg's hellacious new Russian mob movie, Viggo Mortensen finally comes of age as an actor and a movie star.
09/14/07
Top CriticMortensen delivers yet another startling performance, stunning in its intensity and cunning in its ambiguity.
09/14/07
Top CriticLatest News for Eastern Promises
April 03, 2009:
Weekly Ketchup: Sony announces Men in Black III
Right smack in the middle of this week was April Fool's Day, so some stories this week had to be always be viewed with a grain of salt, but there was indeed real movie news. ... More...
March 30, 2009:
Cronenberg Making More Eastern Promises 
Surprise! David Cronenberg is planning a sequel to "Eastern Promises." (Warning: if you haven't seen "Eastern Promises," and plan to one day, skip the finale-spoiling first... More...
November 05, 2008:
MovieReign.com: Barbershop throat slitting, nude macho wrestling and eye gouging in a bathhouse, and far too willing underage Ukrainian sex slaves. A double vodka, please.
More...
February 17, 2008:
SONY Tropfest
SONY TROPFEST, the world's largest film festival, once again pulled crowds of over 150,000 as it screened the 16 finalists films for 2008. More...
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