The Pitch: "The Godfather" with a Russian twist.The Good: Viggo Mortensen owns every second he is own the screen. Armin Mueller-Stahl quietly demands to be watched and heard in every scene -- which is exactly what is needed as the kind restaurant owner, family man and head of a Russian mob. The killings in the public bath -- brutal, but believable. The twist near the end -- I totally did not see it coming and loved it.
The Bad: The movie is slow to get started and then moves at a steady pace. The violence is there, but not as bad as you may have heard.
The Ugly: “Okay. Now I'm going to do his teeth and cut off his fingers. You might want to leave room.”
The Summary: "Eastern Promises" is a brutal look at the Russian mafia. Viggo Mortensen gives an Oscar-worthy performance as the “driver.” The violence may put some off, but it grounds the movie’s reality. I have a feeling that this one is going to grow on me as time passes.
11 comments:
I recently acted with Tamer Husan who was in the fight scene in the Turkish baths. He was the star of The business & Football factory, top guy :)
Judge Monty
DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG TONY UR LUCKY MAN!! I LOVE THE WHOLE CAST OF THE MOVIE ITS LIKE A NEW AND A IMPROVED GODFATHER FAMILY!!
hope u had fun and ur right the movie is excellent!
makaveli
Viggo is intense.
Jazzman
Very good film.
Andrew
*SPOILERS*
This film was a big dissapointment for me. What was a promising film came to a crashing hault in the final act. I'm not even complaining about the twist, although I wasn't thrilled with it. What I hated most was the abrupt and unnatural romantic development between Mortensen and Watts. That kiss was laughable. The film didn't earn that moment. The whole scene with the baby was just plain bad.
Although I don't care for the film overall, I'll agree with everyone here that Mortensen did a nice job.
RockyB76
I saw this in the theater and I really enjoyed it. I didn't like it as much as History of Violence. I do own EP on DVD but haven't watched it again, I've been meaning to, just to see how I like it on the second viewing.
Slyclone
I'm with RB76 on this one, but I probably dislike it even more. It's terribly overrated. An extremely flat movie.
It looks like it was shot on a Toronto sound stage; it has no sense of place. The mafia stuff was tired even with the Russian element, which was never explored to my satisfaction. The baby scene, as mentioned, was poorly staged. The "twist" couldn't have been worse - very lazy conceptually. I thought it was a lifeless production.
Mortenson's good, especially his accent. The only thing in the movie worth seeing is the infamous brawl in the bathhouse. And that's what you tube is for.
Archer
RockyB76, one of us is reading the movie wrong then. I didn't see a romance. I saw a kiss of affection for what they'd been through. He was going to stay in his position and she was going with her family to a safe location. It was one of the things I thought made the move work.
the movie is good but i dont think they should let the audience see Viggo's johnson in the bathhouse fight scene.
jomos
Jul 16, 2008, 10:21pm, jomos wrote:
the movie is good but i dont think they should let the audience see Viggo's johnson in the bathhouse fight scene.
You know, a LOT, was made of that scene. Truthfully, the violence had my attention more than anything else.
This trailer's been around for a while, but I hope they release a new trailer soon.
crowmagnumman
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