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Eastern Promises
Focus Features


7.2

based on 35 reviews
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How did we calculate this?

based on 115 votes
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FILM:

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

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.

100

Premiere Glenn Kenny

One of Cronenberg's subtlest, most insinuating pictures, and one of the highlights of the year so far.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir

A dark and mesmerizing immersion into a distinctive world.

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.

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."

Slate Dana Stevens

David Cronenberg's elegant treatise on the metaphysics of violence.

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.

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.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

An icily seductive parable about family, power, unconventional justice and the perils of answered prayers.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.)

Washington Post Desson Thomson

Cronenberg's deeper purpose is to pull audiences into an affecting, powerful story about right and wrong.

Film Threat Pete Vonder Haar

A genuinely engrossing film.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

Here is an excellent crime thriller made with grown-ups in mind: Yep, it must definitely be fall.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

The violence here is never in the service of spectacle, always of the story.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

A thoroughly entertaining film by a director at the height of his ability.

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.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

The first must-see adult film of the young fall.

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.

USA Today Claudia Puig

Eastern Promises has a compelling story and strong performances to back up what may seem excessive or sensationalistic.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Empire Dorian Lynskey

Mortensen shines but a contrived, issue-driven plot destabilises what could have been a great Russian gangster movie.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

Eastern Promises is intensely anti-dramatic.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

Eastern Promises is a jumbled string of mob-related clichés that mesh into something that’s derivative and at times uninteresting.

The average user rating for this movie is 7.2 (out of 10) based on 115 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Jay M. gave it a10:
In Viggo Mortensen, David Cronenberg has found the perfect collaborator- not since James Stewart and Alfred Hitchcock has a director and star so perfectly aligned to make such thrilling entertainments. On the heels of the perfectly realized A History of Violence, Eastern Promises more than delivers as a new take on the gangster genre. This is sumptuous, elegant filmmaking on the highest level, encompassing all that one can ask of cinema.

Nick A gave it a1:
This move was terrible and I can't agree more that the critics really got it wrong with this one. Cliché's, bad accents and no definitive ending. Definitely one of the worst movies I have seen in a while. I applaud the actors for their efforts, but the direction and storyline was just abysmal. Cliché, cliché, cliché.

Paul W. gave it a1:
Cliché upon cliché, bad script and accents galore..cringworthy to say the least. I left the theatre somewhere around half time..just couldn't stand the James Bond-like villains any longer.

Deborah L. gave it an8:
Unusual subject, surprising plot developments, superb performances. One could present an interesting essay on the similarities to Michael Clayton.

ng gave it a6:
Being Russian myself I cannot say I enjoyed either their English or Russian accents. I appreciate the interest to my country but the fact of exchanging one cliche (involving balalaika, white bears and the same nonsense) to another (slammer country/slave export, etc.) does not seem very enlightening. Though the acting was nicely done it's the only enjoyable thing about this film. You maybe want to get used to the odd Russian culture but please remember that this is just another fairy tale.

Steve E gave it a1:
I really can't believe how wrong all the critics were on this one. Most of it was a wanna-be gangster flick for the Russian mob. Bad accents, cliche upon cliche, and the climactic fight scene in the steam room was not that great, unless you really want to see Viggo's privates flying all around. I expected so much more from these actors and Cronenberg.

Adam B gave it a9:
An excellent and gritty portrayal of the Russian mafia, which includes brutality and artful homosexual sodomy (please don't let the Brokeback Mountain effect tune you out). this is not for the faint of heart, but a mature audience will definitely respect this gem of an action drama.

Eastern Promises Focus Features

Eastern Promises
Focus Features