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| Eastern Promises (Widescreen Edition) | 
 enlarge | Director: David Cronenberg
Actors: Naomi Watts, Viggo Mortensen, Vincent Cassel, Armin Mueller-stahl, Sinead Cusack
Studio: Universal Studios
Category: DVD
List Price: $14.98
Buy Used: $2.29
You Save: $12.69 (85%)
New (53) Used (80) Collectible (2) from $2.29
Avg. Customer Rating:  186 reviews
Sales Rank: 459
Format: Ac-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, Dvd-video, Subtitled, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Dubbed)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 101
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.3 x 0.6
MPN: MCAD62033300D
UPC: 025193330024
EAN: 0025193330024
ASIN: B000YENUI6
Theatrical Release Date: 2007
Release Date: December 23, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: DVD comes in original case Super fast shipping all items Resurfaced and digitally verified before being sold. Some may be previous rentals most have little to no scratches all are guaranteed to work.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Harsh, Sad, Enthralling, Beautifully Acted, Well-Written, Smartly Directed, Well-Paced...A WINNER! November 6, 2008
Quick story snapshot~Begin with a neck-slashing murder, move to a hemorrhaging pregnant girl, who dies giving birth to a living baby girl covered in her mother's blood, and focus on the midwife who innocently takes the dead mother's diary (written in Russian)in an attempt to find the deceased's identity (so as not to bury her an unknown). The diary becomes the object that drives the midwife's journey into the dark world of the London Russian mob, where she connects with a stoic, formidable mob chauffeur played by Mortensen, who is not just a driver, we learn pretty fast. Human sex slavery, murder, loyalties, and betrayals all play their part before we find out the true nature of the various characters by film's end.
I had this film sitting around waiting to be watched. I wanted to watch it for 1. Viggo 2. Naomi (both among my fave actors) and 3. due tot he good reviews.
However, the reviews that emphasized gore and violence and "nekkidness" made me decide to wait for a day when a dark film wouldn't drag my mood down too badly. (Yeah, I can be really affected by films, from joyful to depressing.)
I wish I had not waited. The darkness and evil and pain is balanced to a large degree by elements of good and light and courage. It's not a movie that ends happily, but it is a movie that ends realistically and with some hope. Hope that if people take steps to make things right, some things can be made...more right, if not fully right. And that is an ending that doesn't depress me, but makes me feel great respect for people who do step out of comfort zones or take difficult jobs to make the world better. Or just to save one child.
It's the ending that I began with when I described to my husband how greatly this movie had appealed to me (and subsequently re-watched it with him). The climactic scene at the waterfront is so beautifully done--the acting has subtleties in body language and vocal tone (especially Viggo's, and I totally understand the Oscar nomination). The visual and editing--just so powerful and humane, even in the darkness and dirt and grit and horror of what has been and what could have been.
I cannot stress how amazing Mortensen is. His appearance has been altered by tons of hair spray and gel and clothing and tattos. He moves his body and makes little movements with his head that feel..authentic. He moves as if his secrets cloak him. His accent seems quite, quite good (but not being Russian, I can't say for 100% if it is dead-on).
Watts, who is normally such a scene-stealer, is a good match for him, but she doesn't reach his level here. Mortensen has simply absorbed this character too deeply, and he is much more interesting, nuanced, and haunted a character than Watt's. We can't look away when Viggo's Nikolai is onscreen. We are sure he will look ths way or that, tilt his head, smile just so, and give something away to us. Marvelous.
The supporting cast (for it's all supportive when Viggo is on) does a great job, including Vincent Cassell's father-dominated, vulnerable-meets-arrogant, repressed gay mobster son. The scene where he blows up party balloons--wow. His face is so full of pain and anxiety and uncertainty and a host of emotions as he speaks to his little girl that we can momentarily forget just how criminal and unfeeling he can be in other circumstances, and in forgetting, sympathize.
I also found rivetting the "made man" sort of scene, when the criminal leaders come to initiate Viggo--and the tattoos tell their story.
As I said, the last few scenes--the waterfront, the double denouement (Viggo's, Naomi's), overlaid with the voice of the dead girl reading the same lines we heard her say in the opening scenes: Wow.
And for those who like romantic tension, there is tons here. Viggo manages to be threatening looking and aloof and then, bam, he's connecting in the subtle ways with Naomi's character. It's a thrill to watch their scenes together because of the palpable attraction he gives off without being 'romance hero" obvious.
I want to give a special kudo to the writer who places so much foreshadowing--in seemingly trivial acts, in phrases--from the very start that come to fruition beautifully as the film moves to its final moments.
Cronenberg is a director who's entertained me in some films, annoyed me with others, grosssed me out with some. Now, with Eastern Promises, he finally made a movie that made me want to see it again...and a third time.
Mir
WHITE RUSSIAN October 24, 2008
Viggo Mortensen and David Cronenberg are a match made it film heaven, this film follows on the heels of the great "The History of Violence", which was riviting as well. Cronenberg's movies can be almost hyper violent and this one has a harrowing scene in which a bare Mortensen does battle with two Ukranian thugs, I mean let's face it, this guys movies are not for the squimish. I like Watts and Mortensens chemistry, Viggo does dark and mysterious better than anyone in film, and Watts, though her character is unbelieveably naive, does her best with a sort of thankless role, this movie is really about Mortensen and his relationship to mob scion Kirill and to Russian mob boss, Mueller-Stahl, who is fantastic as usual, he's chilling as this family head, who dispises his son, Kirill, but yet cannot help but indulge him, he is his spawn afterall. The movie is set in the mysterious Russian underworld in modern day London and the city real adds character to the film. Eastern Promises gives an interesting look at the Russian mob, it's seeming obsession with Tatoos and its inner workings. The film takes some interesting turns and has a nice twist, really as in, "The History of Violence", this film rises and falls on the performance of Mortensen. Highly recommended, but not to the faint at heart.
A spectacular thriller from David Cronenberg October 21, 2008
Though David Cronenberg has calmed down a bit from his "King of Venerial Horror" days of Videodrome, Shivers, Scanners, The Fly, Naked Lunch, and the like; he's still managed to craft his best film in years with Eastern Promises. Re-uniting with his A History of Violence star Viggo Mortensen (in a much deserved Oscar nominated role), Eastern Promises tells the story of a mid-wife named Anna (Naomi Watts) who finds the journal of a Russian teenager who died during childbirth. Soon enough, Anna learns that the girl had ties to a Russian mob family, headed by an old-school boss (Armin Mueller-Stahl). Her search for the truth leads her to the boss' volitale son (Vincent Cassel) and his associate Nikolai (Mortensen), who appears to both warn and help Anna at the same time. Frequently compelling and occasionally blood-curdlingly violent, Eastern Promises is one of those oh so rare films that actually manages to stay with you after the credits roll, and actually surprise you when something unexpected occurs. Mortensen is spectacular in a finely nuanced performance that is undoubtedly the best of his career. Even the smaller details, from his body full of tattoos, to his accent, to his sheer physical nature, are superbly detailed and authentic. As for Cronenberg, he seems to have transcended from being regarded as a master of the horror genre to a master of the thriller, and his brilliantly orchestrated bath house knife fight is brilliant film making. All in all, you won't see many films, mainstream or not, of the past couple years that are better than Eastern Promises, and here's hoping that this isn't the last collaboration between Mortensen and Cronenberg.
Interesting movie, bad Russian language October 10, 2008
I watched this on HBO last night. The plot is a very captivating, edge-of-your seat thriller. Although there is a lot of graphic violence, the characters, including the bad guys, are not entirely unlikeable. "Kirill" and his father possess at least a glimmer of a compassionate side (the way they interact with children), and Viggo Mortensen is spectacular as Nikolai (althought I should add, the extensive footage of his teeny ding-dong during the bath house fight scene left me a little queasy). That said, would it have killed the director to hire some actual Russians to speak Russian more believably? I had the hardest time making out what they were saying. Overall, a very entertaining film. In the end, all the loose ends are tied up nicely, and everyone ends up with the best outcome, including Nikolai, Kirill and the baby. The bad guys are punished, like they usually are in an American crime thriller.
Eastern Promises - Blu-ray Info October 8, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Version: U.S.A / Region Free
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
VC-1 BD-25 / Advanced Profile 3
Running time: 1:40:33
Movie size: 20,59 GB
Disc size: 23,73 GB
Average video bit rate: 20.46 Mbps
DTS-HD Master Audio English 3667 kbps 5.1 / 48kHz / 24-bit / 3667kbps (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48kHz / 24-bit / 1536kbps)
DTS Audio French 768 kbps 5.1 / 48kHz / 24-bit / 768kbps
DTS Audio Spanish 768 kbps 5.1 / 48kHz / 24-bit / 768kbps
Subtitles: English SDH / French / Spanish
Number of chapters: 20
#Secrets and Stories (HD - 11 minutes)
#Marked for Life (HD - 7 minutes)
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