The Bottom Line
Viggo Mortensen reunites with his A History of Violence director David Cronenberg for another engaging thriller. Eastern Promises is an incredibly riveting film and would be a real must-see drama even without Mortensen, naked, fighting Russians in a bath house.
Pros
- One of the best thrillers of 2007
- Viggo Mortensen delivers one of the best performances of his career
Cons
- Below average assortment of extra features
Description
- Starring Viggo Mortensen, Naomi Watts, Vincent Cassel, and Armin Mueller-Stahl
- Directed by David Cronenberg
- Rated R for strong brutal and bloody violence, some graphic sexuality, language, and nudity
- DVD Release Date: December 23, 2007
Guide Review - Eastern Promises DVD Review
The Story
On a mission to find the family of a young girl who died after delivering a baby girl, midwife Anna (Watts) takes the dead girl's Russian diary home for her uncle to translate. She also visits a restaurant named on a business card she found in the young girl's possession. Both of these actions set Anna on a dangerous path. The London-based Russian Mafia honcho, Semyon (Mueller-Stahl), doesn't want anyone to know what happened to the girl. Neither does his son (Cassel) or the son's bodyguard (Mortensen). As Anna gets close to the truth, Semyon and his crew are willing to do whatever it takes to stop Anna from putting the pieces of the puzzle together.
On a mission to find the family of a young girl who died after delivering a baby girl, midwife Anna (Watts) takes the dead girl's Russian diary home for her uncle to translate. She also visits a restaurant named on a business card she found in the young girl's possession. Both of these actions set Anna on a dangerous path. The London-based Russian Mafia honcho, Semyon (Mueller-Stahl), doesn't want anyone to know what happened to the girl. Neither does his son (Cassel) or the son's bodyguard (Mortensen). As Anna gets close to the truth, Semyon and his crew are willing to do whatever it takes to stop Anna from putting the pieces of the puzzle together.
The Bonus Features
There are only two extras included on the Eastern Promises DVD, which is very disappointing considering the subject matter and the cast. First up is 'Secrets and Stories', a short piece with David Cronenberg talking about bringing the Steven Wright screenplay to the big screen. Next, 'Marked for Life' features Cronenberg explaining the significance of the tattoos in the film. And that's it...no deleted scenes or commentary tracks.
This DVD begs for at least one additional featurette. An in-depth look at the staging of the infamous bathhouse scene would have been a great addition to this barebones DVD.
