Review of Eastern Promises (2007) by Elliott F — 09 Jul 2012

David Cronenberg is a respected director already, but Eastern Promises is still a stunning achievement. With a tight, thrilling script, Cronenberg's film explores the underworld of Russian crime families.

Viggo Mortensen is astounding as Nikolai Luzhin, a man who obviously knows more than he's revealing with every line delivery. As Anna, a midwife who finds herself mixed up in the dangerous world, Naomi Watts is excellent, very moving yet conveying the stubbornness of her character to a tee.

Vincent Cassel's Kirill is a volcano of a character, always boiling over something just underneath the surface. As the crime boss Semyon, Armin Mueller-Stahl is appropriately scary. Although Mortensen was the sole Oscar nomination for the film (he richly deserved it), the entire film deserves as many accolades as possible.

This is the new standard for modern crime thrillers.