Eastern Promises
- Title: Eastern Promises
- IMDB: link
—Maximilien Robespierre
The film begins with two deaths and one birth. A father and son brutally murder a customer in a barbershop. Across London a 14 year-old prostitute (Sarah-Jeanne Labrosse) dies as she gives birth to a baby girl. These two events are both traced back to the head (Armin Mueller-Stahl) of one of the city’s most powerful Russian crime families and his son (Vincent Cassel).
When a midwife (Naomi Watts) begins an investigation into the girl’s life she finds only darkness and death which put her, the child, and her loved ones in danger when the organization’s newest and deadliest member (Viggo Mortensen) is sent to retrieve the girl’s diary, protect the family’s secrets, and clean up the mess.
There’s much to appreciate here in a film where almost all of the performances are purposefully understated and controlled. Even if the film doesn’t live up the high expectations of A History of Violence, there is plenty to enjoy including one of the most brutal fight sequences in recent memory between a naked Mortensen and a pair of Russian goons.
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