Using the journal of a fourteen-year-old girl who died on her table, a London midwife (Naomi Watts) becomes determined to track down the father of the motherless baby in her ward.  However, the deeper she delves into the diary, the more entangled she becomes with a string of Russian organized crime, and a mysterious man (Viggo Mortensen) who warns her to stay away. That’s the basic premise of the film Eastern Promises. Of course, there’s a lot more to it than that, so let’s jump right in to our full review, after the jump.

INITIAL REACTION
This movie starts out with a classic mafia-flick scenario.  Two men bantering in a barber shop while one cuts the other’s hair in a poor-lit front room.  A third man enters, the bumbling son of the barber, whom the two men scrutinize rather cruelly for being a coward, until he suddenly lurches forward and begins to saw at the man in the chair’s throat with a shaving razor in gory close up. 

That guy should’ve known better than to go get his hair cut in a connected barber shop in the dead of night while it’s raining.  And, he was already clean shaven.  He should’ve bolted the moment a blade got brought out.  His side wasn’t losing any intellectual power, to be sure.

Anyway, from that point onward, Promises never lacks explicit close ups on whatever gruesome act may be occurring on the crime-end of the story.  Weak stomachs would do best to look away if violence is even hinted at. Surprisingly, however, the extreme gore isn’t the focus of the film, but merely a decorative addition to an intricate story thick with twists and intrigue.  We’re not just close on moments of physical discomfort, but on those of emotional extremes as well, especially when dealing with Kirill (Vincent Cassel) and his implied homosexual urges.

THE CAST
This film stars a huge array of international superpowers, none of whom seem to actually be from Russia.  The actors span from American, British, French, Polish, and German, and surprisingly, they all pull off the native-Russian thing. 

• Viggo Mortensen is nearly unrecognizable as the mysterious thug-driver with a hidden agenda.  He appears to have put on about twice his original muscle mass, and done something skeezy to his hair.  Regardless, he still manages to be sexy and alluring throughout the course of the film, even when audiences are fully aware that he’s a bad man, and his dimpled chin and sultry eyes don’t change that.
• Naomi Watts seems to be either indignant or frightened (mostly frightened) throughout the course of the piece.  Though we get a lot of expertly revealed tidbits on her history and her attachment to the abandoned baby, we never really seem to get close to her character.  She mostly serves as a vessel to reveal the story behind the diary.
• Vincent Cassel is brilliant as the complex Kirill.  Though he is drunk throughout a large portion of the movie, his vulnerability, struggle with his shortcomings, and typical son-of-the-leader complex are delivered in an entirely human and almost sympathetic way.  What Cassel does is create a multi-dimensional character out of someone written as a stereotype.  We’re glad to see him transitioning into American film, and bringing his talent with him.

OTHER THOUGHTS

• Mortensen made a brave step career wise by agreeing to do the fully-nude knife fight in a (literal) steambath.  This is not half as sexy as it sounds, simply because the incredibly graphic sound effects have viewers buying all the knife-to-skull action, and due the fact that Mortensen becomes more and more covered in blood as the scene progresses.
• Watts has a supporting family subplot that may be a little too realistically tumultuous and loose-ended to assist the story well.  Her ex-KGB uncle in particular seems to have an almost hostile relationship with Watts and her mother.
• The Boss character, Semyon, does a fantastic job of alternating between sweet-old-man to ruthless decision maker running a house of forced prostitution.  Audiences will still want to like the guy following the reveal of his sinister nature.
• A mentally-handicapped character is sprinkled throughout the film before meeting an untimely demise while drunkenly urinating on a headstone during a sports event.  He is handled well as (yet another) innocent victim of the crime ring, but not really poignant enough of a character to seem completely necessary.
• Cronenberg plays out pauses and moments of tension at a masterful level.  It almost alleviates the need for verbal expression at moments.
• Full of twists and turns, audiences will actually be surprised by some of the revelations throughout, and unsure of the outcome during moments of tension, particularly concerning the fate of the baby.

Bottom Line:  Not for the faint hearted, but definitely worth a watch.