Eastern Promises

David Cronenberg follows up his impactful "A History of Violence" with this brooding, menacing tale of the Russian mob in London. Cronenberg, we should never forget, directed "Crash." The good "Crash" from 1996. His movies still carry a taste of the extreme (whether violence or otherwise, as in "Crash"), but it never seems done just to be doing it. He has a point, and the scenes are all essential. His films are still deliberately paced, but this is one of the few instances where "deliberate" is not used as a euphemism for "slow and boring." Rather, thoughtful, purposeful, and reflective.

Viggo Mortensen let it all hang out, as it were, in his portrayal of one of the mobsters. In a rather notable scene towards the end, two men attack him with knives while he's in a bathhouse. In the ensuing melee, he stabs and kicks and hits with no clothes -- and with the camera not hiding his body, unlike the awkwardly staged prison shower fight scene in 50 Cent's "Get Rich or Die Tryin'." Roger Ebert thought the world of this scene and referred to it as a "benchmark," even comparing it to the car scene in "The French Connection." That's overdoing it a bit. For one, the scene is almost too carefully choreographed, and there are too many cuts between shots for you to be blown away by it. For another, it's overlooking the more visceral and mesmerizing close-combat scene in "The Bourne Ultimatum," which, even though the actors were fully clothed, conveyed more physicality and life-threatening struggle.

While the movie was engaging, it had its shortcomings. For one, Naomi Watts. She's a terrible actress. Her work in "King Kong" amazed me, and I was hoping she had turned a corner, but no, she's the same old Watts from "21 Grams," "Le Divorce," and "Mulholland Drive." Also, the different Russian accents in the movie made me think of a joke. A Greek, a Czech, and a James Bond villain walk into a bar. Oh no, wait. They're all supposed to be Russian. Many critics also noted that the screenwriter, Steven Knight, also wrote "Dirty Pretty Things," otherwise known as "Amelie's Kidney Adventure," which is a similar tale of immigrants in London learning of the seediness that lurks below the surface of society. However, not a lot of critics noted that he also wrote the overwrought "Amazing Grace," otherwise known as, "White Britons Free The Slaves, Who Are The People That Do Not Appear In This Film."

If someone asked me if they should see "Eastern Promises," I'd reply "Mmm, yeah," as opposed to "yes." But it seems like the kind of film that might merit further viewings, so over time my opinion may change for the better.