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David Cronenberg's "Eastern Promises" continues the
collaboration begun with actor Viggo Mortensen in "A History
of Violence". As with their previous collaboration, Mortensen
plays conflicted character Nikolai a member of the Russian
mob who crosses paths with a British midwife named Anna
(an excellent Naomi Watts) who is much more than the "driver"
for Russian mob leader Seymon (Armin Mueller-Stahl) he pretends
to be. ***
The provocative and moving story has some nice twists
and turns in the screenplay by Steven Knight ("Amazing Grace")but
the film truly comes alive due to the strong performances
of Mortensen, Watts, Mueller-Stahl and Victor Cassel as
Seymon's son Kirill. Featuring a dazzling, brutal and shocking
fight sequence set in a steambath (something that Hitchcock
in his prime might have tried), Cronenberg creates a fascinating
tapestry to hang his often stunning visuals on. He continues
to mature and become richer as a film director with the
passage of time. A few folks complained about the resolution
of the film but I actually felt that the way Cronenberg
handled the conclusion was the opposite of a Hollywood ending
and worked extremely well. ---
Image & Sound:
The promise of the HD DVD side of the disc is delivered
on with a sharp looking transfer. The grainy look of the
film was quite intentional and is nicely reproduced here.
The DVD side of the combo disc looks extremely good as well
and is reflective of what the regular DVD looks like. Audio
isn’t the most active except for the action sequences. Dialogue
is crisp and clear. ---
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