Sorry, this movie sucks

Don't listen to the negative reviews

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

I had not even heard of this film. I do not know why, it's right up my alley in taste of film genre. This film, if I may state to the writers, producers, directors, cast, and all elements of bringing this surprisingly fantastic film together, as a viewer, PLEASE MAKE A SEQUEL. I want more. It's May 2018, & I have just now viewed this film. This film will be timeless. It will hold together seamlessly as time passes as it is very relevant to what society views the underworld to be. I have read on various film buff websites the sequel, Eastern Promises 2, to be called Body Cross was to begin filming in March of 2017. I was crushed when I read a report the director stopped the production and announced there will be no sequel. This sequel must be made. There is so much about this story to be revealed. It is my opinion as an avid movie viewer, this film is worthy of many sequels and future prequels. I am currently inviting all of my friends through my social media accounts to view this film. Please trust me when I say, produce the sequel to this film. I didn't even know the film existed & I do not know how this one slipped past me. This is the only reason I say it is a surprisingly fantastic dark horse. I didn't see it coming. But I will western promise you this, if you choose to franchise this film, I will pay full price to view your films in the theater and I will be purchasing the digital stream editions for my continued enjoyment at home. This is truly a film I can view over & again. I need more. The story needs to be told. I desperately want to own the set of films you can make from this blockbuster. For what it's worth, I am after all your audience, am I not? Coffee cups, T-shirts, Magnets, decorating my vehicle, my fridge, and flaunting my coffe mug with my film buff best friends. You have a pot of gold here, don't bogart the pot man.

In London, Naomi Watts (playing a nurse) helps a Russian girl give birth…the child lives but the mother dies. Only a diary written in Russian by the dead mother will shed light as to who the girl was. So what does Watts do? Does she go to the police and say "Here you go, do your job?" Nope, she goes to a Russian restaurant and asks the owner to translate; and wouldn't you know it, the owner happens to be a big time, Russian mobster who is connected to the dead mother! Now Watts, her family, and the baby are all in danger. But Viggo Mortensen (who plays a low-level Russian mobster), may have a way out for Watts. Is he helping Watts because he is attracted to her, or does Mortensen have his own agenda against his employers? But for the outrageous shenanigan of **SPOILER ALERT**a mobster easily stealing a baby from a hospital, this engaging drama/suspense/thriller would have received a higher grade. My most memorable, movie moment of "Eastern Promises" is the scene when **SPOILER ALERT**two Chechen mobsters attack Mortensen in a bath house, and Mortensen, while naked, has to fight off the big gorillas as his ding-a-ling happily swings back and forth — it is horrifying and comedic at the same time.Mannysmemorablemoviemoments

Anna (Naomi Watts) is a midwife of English / Russian parentage who earns her living in London. One night she helps to deliver the baby for a teen aged girl, who dies in childbirth. Finding a diary among the girls' belongings, she hopes to get it translated so that she can give the baby to whatever family the girl has. In so doing, she gets mixed up with a Russian mob family, including its boss, Semyon (Armin Mueller-Stahl), his sleazy son Kirill (Vincent Cassel), and Kirills' loyal chauffeur / muscle man Nikolai (Viggo Mortensen).Acclaimed Canadian filmmaker David Cronenberg again delivers a film that is equal parts engrossing, interesting, and reasonably intelligent. Working from a screenplay by Steven Knight, he does an impressive job of immersing us in an exotic environment. The mood and the feel of the material are just right. Although Cronenberg unfortunately seems to have left his "body horror" era far behind by this point, there is some very effective violence here and there courtesy of Stephan Dupuis.The film travels far on the charisma of its leading man Mortensen, who is utterly convincing as this enigmatic character. But the whole cast is excellent, really. Watts is an appealing protagonist, Cassel is most amusing, and Mueller-Stahl is a treat as the aged, reserved mafia boss. Other sturdy contributions are made by Sinead Cusack and Jerzy Skolimowski as Annas' aunt and uncle, Tatiana Maslany (voice only), Mina E. Mina, and Donald Sumpter. Some of Mortensens' fans will be truly delighted to see him show off the goods in a key bath house sequence.Certain story twists, the location shooting, and the crisp photography all help to make this very fine entertainment. Cronenberg works alongside a few of his frequent collaborators: cinematographer Peter Suschitzky, production designer Carol Spier, editor Ronald Sanders, composer Howard Shore, and costume designer Denise Cronenberg (the directors' sister).Eight out of 10.

The opening scenes in David Cronenberg's "Eastern Promises" has a man seated in a barber's chair in London, we are left asking ourselves, how will this man die in his own blood. Cronenberg offers his viewers the freedom to make assumptions as well as the liberation for the unfortunate victim not expecting his fate when the straight-edged razor will inflict him in the throat or to when he tries to kick out from possible death by kicking his feet. This commencing scenario is the tip of the iceberg and sets the tone for what is to be a wild ride in thinly plotted low-budgeted film. The following scene takes place in a pharmacy where a cold, drenched bare- footed teenage girl walks into the shop. She is bloody and pregnant and is quickly rushed to Trafalgar General Hospital. This is where we meet a midwife named Anna (Naomi Watts). The young girl dies, but her baby survives though covered in blood. Nobody can identify who the mother is, but all we know is that she's left a journal written in Russian and a restaurant card. Like an amateur detective, Anna sets out on what is a simple assignment to ascertain the dead mother's identity and the biological father of her newborn baby. Two things that need to be unravelled during these opening scenes is that Cronenberg is oblivious to his own actions and that he is much to self-aware of himself that he is pulling of similar traits that he does in most of his movies. Very similar to the opening scenes Martin Scorsese's "Goodfellas" where Frank Vincent's Billy Batts gets beaten mercilessly to death, Cronenberg's self-awareness stems to the brink of self-parody can't go incognito towards an endless fetching case of aberration. His method of acting is in-your-face and extremely physical. The things that people seem to neglect like the social, public and even spiritual spectrum all materializes through the physical existence and that the spokes of our wheels runs entirely on blood. This is something he doesn't forget let alone something won't let us forget either. So now we have Anna up to the initiative in the bloody atmosphere as she welcomes a new life for this child. Her investigation leads her to man named Semyon (Armin Mueller-Stahl) who runs the Trans-Siberian Restaurant who's a potential man in lying in his own pool of blood. Upfront he runs a very successful Ukrainian restaurant, but is also a powerful mob leader underground. He knows that this diary could spell the demise of himself and his entire empire. One of his cronies is his chauffeur Nikolai (Viggo Mortensen in his second Cronenberg film). The first Cronenberg-Mortensen pairing was "The History of Violence" and the alliance between these two are quite stimulating. Mortensen truly feels at home in Cronenberg's visions as he knows his character is up against his worst to come. He seems adjusted to his director's obsessions. For most of the movie Nikolai spends most of the time facing off against Seymon's son Kirill (Vincent Cassel). Having these two opponents is the sign of perfect casting let alone brilliant chemistry. They're close in height, class, colouring and even close in age and both possess handsome features. A classic case of good versus evil. Cassel's menacing appeal is the pivotal reason why he seems to be type-cast as a villain in American films. However in "Eastern Promises", he's playing a more prominent villain because he's able to embody insecurity and has enough gusto to reveal his true self successfully. This might be one of Cassel's best English-speaking performances. Even though the penmanship has changed with Steven Knight was the scriptwriter here, the family resemblance between "Eastern Promises" and "A History of Violence" is quite similar that goes beyond Mortensen in the starring roles in both. Both films feature a vicious mobster involved in the lives of ordinary solid citizens. The narratives are both executed to perfection. Cronenberg skims through the narrative without actually rushing through the movie and gives great depths towards the set-pieces nearby like the Russian Mafia initiation (where the applicant must stand in the nude in front of a judging panel) and an ugly violent mob altercation in a steam room.The one thing that makes "Eastern Promise" inferior to "A History of Violence" is that it was way too compulsory and not as endearing and complex as "A History of Violence". Aside from that minor nitpick, "Eastern Promises" delivers entertainment in the way that David Cronenberg has mastered.