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Eastern Promises
Focus Features

Eastern Promises reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 82 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
7.2 out of 10
based on 35 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 125 votes
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Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: R for strong brutal and bloody violence, some graphic sexuality, language and nudity

Starring Viggo Mortensen, Naomi Watts, Vincent Cassel, Sinéad Cusack, Donald Sumpter, and Armin Mueller-Stahl

The mysterious and charismatic Russian-born Nikolai Luzhin is a driver for one of London's most notorious organized crime families of Eastern European origin. The family is part of the Vory V Zakone criminal brotherhood. Headed by Semyon--whose courtly charm as the welcoming proprietor of the plush Trans-Siberian restaurant impeccably masks a cold, brutal core--the family is tested by Semyon's volatile son and enforcer, Kirill, who is more tightly bound to Nikolai than to his own father. But Nikolai's carefully maintained existence is jarred once he crosses paths at Christmastime with Anna Khitrova, a midwife at a North London hospital. Anna is deeply affected by the desperate situation of a young teenager who dies while giving birth to a baby. Anna resolves to try to trace the baby's lineage and relatives. The girl's personal diary also survives her, which is written in Russian; thus, Anna seeks answers in it. Anna's mother, Helen, does not discourage her, but Anna's irascible Russian-born uncle Stepan urges caution. He is right to do so: By delving into the diary, Anna has accidentally unleashed the full fury of the Vory. (Focus Features)


GENRE(S): Drama  |  Mystery  |  Suspense/Thriller  
WRITTEN BY: Steven Knight  
DIRECTED BY: David Cronenberg  
RELEASE DATE: DVD: December 26, 2007 
Theatrical: September 14, 2007 
RUNNING TIME: minutes, Color 
ORIGIN: USA 

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100
Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
The actors and the characters merge and form a reality above and apart from the story, and the result is a film that takes us beyond crime and London and the Russian mafia and into the mystifying realms of human nature.
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100
Premiere Glenn Kenny
One of Cronenberg's subtlest, most insinuating pictures, and one of the highlights of the year so far.
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91
Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy
Cronenberg has, as Guillermo del Toro did in "Pan's Labyrinth," crafted both a drama and a fairy tale -- and he's done it in an entertainment as cracking as you could wish for.
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90
The New York Times A.O. Scott
The rigor of Mr. Cronenberg’s direction sometimes seems at odds with the humanism of Mr. Knight’s script, but more often the director’s ruthless formal command rescues the story from its maudlin impulses. Mr. Knight aims earnestly for your heartstrings, but Mr. Cronenberg insists on getting under your skin. The result is a movie whose images and implications are likely to stay in your head for a long time.
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90
Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum
Cronenberg's follow-up to "A History of Violence" -- starring the same lead, Viggo Mortensen, in a very different part -- lacks the theoretical dimension of its predecessor, but it's no less masterful in its fluid storytelling and shocking choreography of violence.
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90
Variety Todd McCarthy
A superbly wrought yarn set in the milieu of first-generation Russian mobsters in London that is simultaneously tough-minded and compassionate about the human condition, Eastern Promises instantly takes its place among David Cronenberg's very best films.
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90
Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir
A dark and mesmerizing immersion into a distinctive world.
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90
The Hollywood Reporter Sura Wood
Cronenberg and screenwriter Steve Knight masterfully orchestrate an atmosphere of danger and dread for a descent into an underworld inhabited by the Russian mafia in London.
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90
Village Voice J. Hoberman
A rhapsodic movie directed with considerable formal intelligence and brooding power from an original screenplay by Steve Knight, Eastern Promises is very much a companion to "A History of Violence."
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90
Slate Dana Stevens
David Cronenberg's elegant treatise on the metaphysics of violence.
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90
Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
Viggo Mortensen's performance is flat-out brilliant, and this relentlessly dramatic thriller represents a mid-life growth spurt for its director, David Cronenberg.
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89
Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov
It's Cronenberg's film, but it's the actors who elevate Eastern Promises from mere thriller to some other, more disturbing plane.
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88
TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
An icily seductive parable about family, power, unconventional justice and the perils of answered prayers.
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88
New York Post Lou Lumenick
Even with his clothes on, this is Mortensen's best and richest performance, worthy of serious awards consideration. He lends a moral complexity to Eastern Promises that makes it much more than just a very accomplished action thriller.
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88
Boston Globe Ty Burr
This is the first time, though, his (Mortensen)performance seemed so much bigger than the film surrounding it. That he manages the feat with so few wasted gestures puts him in line with the greats.
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88
Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips
An unusually strong crime thriller, Eastern Promises comes from director David Cronenberg, a meticulous old-school craftsman of a type that is becoming increasingly rare.
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88
Rolling Stone Peter Travers
In Eastern Promises, shot to envelop by the great Peter Suschitzky, Cronenberg brings us face to face with the horror of self.
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83
Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker
The restraint of both director and actor makes this steely gangster drama reverberate long after it ends. This kind of mystery is rare in a film culture that demands answers before the credits roll.
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80
Los Angeles Times Carina Chocano
Expertly 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. (Squeamishness, yes.)
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80
Washington Post Desson Thomson
Cronenberg's deeper purpose is to pull audiences into an affecting, powerful story about right and wrong.
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80
Film Threat Pete Vonder Haar
A genuinely engrossing film.
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75
Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez
Here is an excellent crime thriller made with grown-ups in mind: Yep, it must definitely be fall.
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75
Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey
The violence here is never in the service of spectacle, always of the story.
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75
San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
A thoroughly entertaining film by a director at the height of his ability.
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75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen
What it doesn't have is the resonance of Cronenberg's "A History of Violence," a film that exploited the same genre even while transcending its limitations. Eastern Promises delivers, but not on that scale.
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75
New York Daily News Jack Mathews
The first must-see adult film of the young fall.
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75
The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps
An engaging thriller done in the Cronenberg style is still worth anyone's time. And this one boasts memorable turns from Naomi Watts, Armin Mueller-Stahl, and Vincent Cassel.
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75
USA Today Claudia Puig
Eastern Promises has a compelling story and strong performances to back up what may seem excessive or sensationalistic.
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75
Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
It's an academic meditation in underworld-thriller drag -- a movie that looks about as close to a straight-ahead, down-and-dirty genre entertainment as anything the director has made since his exploding-head horror days.
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70
New York Magazine David Edelstein
It’s engrossing, and Mueller-Stahl’s mix of Old World chivalry and murderousness is scarier than Jason and Freddy combined.
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70
The New Yorker Anthony Lane
Cronenberg made a movie called “The Dead Zone,” and I sometimes wonder whether, for all his formal brilliance, he has ever torn himself away from that locked-in, airless state of mind. You walk out of Eastern Promises feeling spooked and sullied, as if waking from a noisome dream.
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67
Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer
Cronenberg has a distinctive style – deadpan absurdism laced with fright and all executed with slow deliberation. But too much of Eastern Promises is cultish and silly.
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60
Empire Dorian Lynskey
Mortensen shines but a contrived, issue-driven plot destabilises what could have been a great Russian gangster movie.
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50
Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
Eastern Promises is intensely anti-dramatic.
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50
ReelViews James Berardinelli
Eastern Promises is a jumbled string of mob-related clichés that mesh into something that’s derivative and at times uninteresting.
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What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 7.2 (out of 10) based on 125 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Daniel T gave it an8:
Flawed, yes. But it's both riveting and compelling. The primary reason I rate this movie as "good" to "very good" is that it brings to light some important issues and is entertaining. If you want highly authentic material however, this isn't the film.

Luci D. gave it a10:
This is for an educated audience. (not for a supposed 8-year-old niece that can write a script about Russian organized crime as noted in a non-critical bashing review) The mind-set is for the R rating, maturity and international crime solving group. Viggo Mortensen received a long deserved Oscar nom for his ability to get into his character's skin on this one. Well worth the watch and will put you on the edge of your seat; as well as open-a closed mindset.

George T. gave it a0:
Just a complete, terrible piece of crap; a truly awful film.

Farhad B. gave it a3:
Dull, dull, and duller. Apart from a good performance by Mortensen, the film could be a standard sub-par Hollywood action flick. Black merc SLs, black suits, shirts, and overcoats, this is cliche at it fullest. Terrible accents and background score round it off. Expected much more considering the hype.

Diem P. gave it a1:
[***SPOILER*ALERT*SPOILER*ALERT***} Where should I begin with this piece of crap?Are we to assume that the condition of the young woman (that was molested and drugged so many times) was of no interest to the London police?Why wasnt there a investigation to find out who/what caused the bruises and the needle piercings in her arms? Especially since -as it seems- these were the causes of her death. And wasnt there an autopsy to reveal whether she was actually raped or in any way mistreated by someone? What a flop.And then Watts steals her journal and sets out on a quest to find out what happened.How stupid can you be?Why didnt she go to the police in the first place? The script is full of holes and it really doesnt make any sense... Moving on to the cliches...We have the spoiled good for nothing son of the mafia boss that is best friend with the #1 guy of the family.How original!!! Moreover, Cassel is always either drunk or pissed off with something and he never utters a sentence that makes sense. Next we have Mortensen, the cold-blooded mafia driver-killer-thug that -SPOILER- is actually an undercover agent of S.Yard ! My 8year old niece can write a better script! I'm surprised they didnt cast Bruce Willis in Mortensen's role! And last but not least the mafia boss who of course he runs a restaurant, he's an excellent cook and he commands an army of two! His son and his driver/bodyguard.We never get to see any other members of the Zakone brotherhood (some of them arrive for Mortensen's initiation into a higher rank but thats all). Also the initiation itself is quite funny since all they do is call his father a coward and his mother a wh*re, and thats it! He is accepted as a high ranking spawn of a spineless coward and a prostitute. Enjoy! Last, the scene at the baths gave us more than we actually wanted to see...I'm talking about Mortensen's little wiggling flopping willy. I could go on but I think I have made my point.Stay away from this movie like your life depends on it!!! I rate it with 1 because they actually had the ballz to write and shoot something that dreadfull...

John S. gave it a10:
Great movie gripping from start to finish, I liked the ending because it left you wondering and thinking about the characters.

Tony B. gave it a7:
Superior to the somewhat overrated "A History of Violence," "Eastern Promises" successfully captures and depicts the nether world of London's Russian gangsters. Although Viggo Mortensen deserves the praise he has received for this film, one must not overlook the fine work done by the rest of the cast, notably Naomi Watts and Armin Mueller-Stahl. I question having Mortensen shed it all in the brutal attempt on his life.

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