Eastern Promises

[grady]

Saw it on Sunday. Enjoyed it quite a bit. The film could've been longer and explored a few more points, but I still left satisfied. The much talked about violence of certain scenes was intense and repulsive at moments. But it's a mix of repulsion and fascination that keeps you looking at the screen with rapt attention. This combination David Cronenberg seems to have nearly perfected at this point in his career.

[GforGroove]

Originally Posted by grady

Saw it on Sunday. Enjoyed it quite a bit. The film could've been longer and explored a few more points, but I still left satisfied. The much talked about violence of certain scenes was intense and repulsive at moments. But it's a mix of repulsion and fascination that keeps you looking at the screen with rapt attention. This combination David Cronenberg seems to have nearly perfected at this point in his career.

If you don't count i got the worst seats ever i really enjoyed it too. I love the mood of something that is about to explode and it never does..i think is pretty funny too, mostly in the bloody scenes haha.. but at the end.. er.. you know.. i was like NO NO NOOO don't do thattttt...(you know which scene i dont want to spoil! ) and well. he did it.

[winjer]

I thought it was completely contrived, predictable, hollywood garbage. The Nude-Viggo Fight Scene was breathtaking... just brilliantly done, and all the more powerful appearing within such an awful film. But other than that scene... boy oh boy does this movie suffer from an AWFUL script... any good director (especially one of Cronenberg's talent...) should have never even stepped foot near it in the first place.

[grady]

Originally Posted by winjer

I thought it was completely contrived, predictable, hollywood garbage. The Nude-Viggo Fight Scene was breathtaking... just brilliantly done, and all the more powerful appearing within such an awful film. But other than that scene... boy oh boy does this movie suffer from an AWFUL script... any good director (especially one of Cronenberg's talent...) should have never even stepped foot near it in the first place.

Your thoughts echo almost verbatim what a friend of mine said. We had a decent discussion/arguement about the film. He wondered if I watched the same film he did. His arguement and yours seem tinged with similar statements made about A History of Violence. The person I had the arguement with about Eastern Promises also loathed A History of Violence.

I will give into the arguement at some points in the script it just goes too far into becoming very contrived. However, I still found the film worked incredibly well for me. Cronenberg took a script that was dull and flat and beat some more ideas out of it.

[GforGroove]

Originally Posted by winjer

I thought it was completely contrived, predictable, hollywood garbage. The Nude-Viggo Fight Scene was breathtaking...

mmm... i feel that David Cronenberg makes fun of that ridiculous hollywood garbage all the time in his movies. Super cinic. -oh i love him!- but anyway.. i just feel that in History of Violence and Eastern Promises he found a way to step into this places without falling completely and also making this hollywoodesques moments totally unpredictable and way more interesting of course, which creates a really weird and original result in my opinion. I mean the whole thing in this movie is OFF THE HOOK! but some how (well because of cronenberg of course) ends uo being somehting much more interesting and captivating. sexy.

nude-vigo bleeding like dog uff.. incredible. classic. wow. can't praise it enough.

i really dig the tatoos



spoilerish.. not really but well:

2 things that were too weird and completly put of place for me were
the voice off of the russian escort and well .. the kiss. the KISS i was shocked. I say loud NOOOOOO i cover my face when they did it.. that was so not right! i still shrugging about that while typing. no-no-no.

[negative1]

i enjoyed this movie for what it was..
an average grade b crime/mafia/innocent
people getting mixed up with-story..

but if you're expecting some more of the
old-school david croneburg, this isn't the
place to get it..

yeah, i'm sure he wants to explore more of
the mainstream human interaction/stories that
he's been doing lately..

but i miss all the weird/trippy/psychedelic/
psychological stuff from his earlier movies..

oh well..

later
-1

[m.g.]

Well... it's very difficult to find a bad movie in David Cronenberg's filmography & Eastern Promises won't be an exception, Cronenberg being imho one of the best director ever.

The fight scene in the hammam is already a reference & for those who were doubting (if there are any...) Viggo Mortensen is an outstanding actor.

[jOHN rODRIGUEZ]

Loved it.

On an emotional level, I put this right up there with Baraka.

Gory as hell, even for me.