Review: Eastern Promises

If you've ever seen "A History of Violence" directed by David Cronenberg, you will know exactly what kind of realistic, uncompromising, well -acted drama to expect in "Eastern Promises" which stars Viggo Mortenson, Naomi Watts, Armin-Mueller-Stahl, and Vincent Cassel. The general plot revolves around Russian mobsters, a British nurse, an orphaned baby, and takes place in London. The story comes full circle in a way that I like movies to end- not necessarily a "happy" ending, but one that makes sense. This movie made me cringe, made my stomach churn, and made me wish that Viggo Mortenson was in just about every good movie part out there. Without giving away the twist of the story (and there's a few very good ones), here's a list of major points-

1. Vincent Cassel is always interesting to watch- he looks like a narrow- faced mad Slav (not just in this role but in all his roles) and is such a bad seed you hate to feel sorry for him- but you will...
2. Armin Mueller-Stahl plays a deceptively nice old Russian man who is like a Vodka filled Venus fly-trap waiting for innocent Watt's character with mouth wide open- very good character.
3. Can I just repeat how much I like Viggo Mortensen- who in this movie with hair combed back revealing a widow's peak, could pass as Christopher Walken's evil twin brother on looks alone? His face could have been carved out of granite, so stony and chiseled, that you never get a clue as to his character's viewpoint until about half-way through the story.
4. Naomi Watts is, as usual, big eyed and scared looking. She is an actress good at doing the damsel in distress thing- (as in the Ring movies) and is good enough to fill her role as a British nurse who gets involved in the Russian mob.
5. If you cannot handle slit throats, hard won physical battles, dark moody indoor scenes with the cheerfulness of life sucked out of them, and Russian accents so thick you can barely understand the dialogue- don't even bother watching. I don't love violence, but was quick enough to realize when someone was gonna "get it" and didn't watch the gory scenes. This isn't "The Care Bear Movie," after all.
6. I think one of the points to this movie, based on the bestselling novel, is that violence will find the innocent...it's a part of life. Sort of like "Six Degrees of Seperation" (a great movie and play), violence does not discriminate between those who invite it by choosing a hard life or by foolishly getting involved with crime- rather it randomly shows up to our doors without invite- and that is scarier than any ghost, monster or unseen force out in the world today.

Oh well- back to the sunshine today. Went fishing this morning until 11 and now will be touring the labor and delivery part of the hospital today at 6:30 - so excited! Have a great day kiddos!