Review of Eastern Promises (2007) by Urban M — 03 Oct 2016

Eastern Promises is a refreshingly calm, well shot, unconventional gangster thriller with (for Cronenberg standards) little, but explicit, raw violence (with one scene in particular involving a naked Viggo Mortensen being one of the best and most visceral fight scenes put to film), a quietly effective score and great performances, especially by Mortensen.

Its intriguing discussion of classic Cronenbergian themes- body, identity and community- within a character-driven story is only hindered by the comparatively uninteresting story-part surrounding Anna and a few other writing flaws, especially in its final 30 seconds.