Eastern Promises

Review by Anthony Morris

In his current incarnation as straight-ahead thriller director, one-time body horror expert David Cronenberg has lost none of his skill in depicting the many ugly ways that the human body can come apart.

This vicious tale of the Russian mafia at work in present-day London features a below-average number of mob executions, but the mobsters’ preference for knives provides plenty of opportunity for Cronenberg to set the audience squirming – especially in a steam bath fight sequence that’s almost too nasty to watch.
 
The story revolves around an underage prostitute who dies in childbirth, leaving behind a diary that leads a hospital midwife (Naomi Watts) to the door of the Russian mob’s swanky restaurant lair. At first Chauffeur Nikolai (Viggo Mortensen) is with her on the outside both literally and figuratively. But as his skills present a solution to the problems the diary could cause his bosses, his path is cleared into the world inside – a world ruled by bloody violence and ruthless manipulation.
 
Claustrophobic and brutal, this is a knife-edge experience driven by an astonishing performance from Mortensen. The Russian prison tattoos on his body tell his life story, yet in his hands Nikolai is a distant, manipulative, and ultimately unknowable character.

In the grim and despairing world Cronenberg presents in this compelling film, he is its most perfect predator.

4 out of 5

Eastern Promises
Australian release: 25th October, 2007
Cast: Viggo Mortensen, Naomi Watts, Vincent Cassel
Director: David Cronenberg
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