Eastern Promises (2007) Rank 2 Reviews

Orlando Sentinel (Roger Moore)

It's just too bad Eastern Promises , on the whole, promises more than it delivers. ...read the complete Eastern Promises movie review at Orlando Sentinel (Roger Moore)

Q Network Film Desk (James Kendrick)

Eastern Promises is a superior genre exercise, a film that takes the broad parameters of the gangster film and reworks them into something that feels invigorating and new. The story is set in the dark world of expatriate Russian mobsters living in ...read the complete Eastern Promises movie review at Q Network Film Desk (James Kendrick)

Sacramento News & Review (Jim Lane)

What Knight's script lacks...is made up for by Cronenberg and his cast... ...read the complete Eastern Promises movie review at Sacramento News & Review (Jim Lane)

ReviewExpress.com (Diana Saenger)

Eastern Promises is mostly predictable throughout the film, but that never diminishes the intrigue and drama of the story. ...read the complete Eastern Promises movie review at ReviewExpress.com (Diana Saenger)

commonsensemedia.org (S. Jhoanna Robledo)

Compelling but brutal mafia film for adults only. ...read the complete Eastern Promises movie review at commonsensemedia.org (S. Jhoanna Robledo)

The Movie Chicks

Anna (Naomi Watts) works as a midwife in a London hospital. When an underage prostitute dies during childbirth, it affects Anna deeply. Sheâ��s looking for the parents of the girl to give them the baby, but the only clue she has to her identity is a diary ...read the complete Eastern Promises movie review at The Movie Chicks

Times [UK] (Wendy Ide)

Accents are as thick as borscht, and vodka flows almost as freely as the blood. ...read the complete Eastern Promises movie review at Times [UK] (Wendy Ide)

Maxim (Pete Hammond)

In the end 'Eastern' promises - and delivers - an intelligent film full of it's own brand of sound and fury. ...read the complete Eastern Promises movie review at Maxim (Pete Hammond)

ComingSoon.net (Edward Douglas)

While this isn't a terrible movie, compared to A History of Violence or any of Cronenberg's earlier films, it's a huge disappointment. ...read the complete Eastern Promises movie review at ComingSoon.net (Edward Douglas)

Empire Magazine [UK]

The first time Viggo Mortensenâ��s mysterious Mafia fixer Nikolai gets to dominate the screen in Eastern Promises, he is using a hair-drier to defrost a frozen corpse. He works calmly, expensive tie slung over his shoulder, cigarette dangling laconically ...read the complete Eastern Promises movie review at Empire Magazine [UK]

Bullz-Eye.com

The term "overrated" has become a word used far too commonly when discussing film these days, but director David Cronenbergâ��s follow-up to his 2005 masterpiece, â��A History of Violence,â�� is exactly that. ...read the complete Eastern Promises movie review at Bullz-Eye.com

This is London (Derek Malcolm)

Its subtext, which is about sex and violence and the way one often dovetails with the other, and the skill of its making, render it gripping enough. ...read the complete Eastern Promises movie review at This is London (Derek Malcolm)

FilmJudge (David Mercier)

Anna Khitrova (Watts), a midwife working at a London hospital, tries to trace the lineage of a baby whose mother died in her hospital. Her investigations lead her to a pricey Russian restaurant, owned by the charming Semyon (Mueller-Stahl). But the ...read the complete Eastern Promises movie review at FilmJudge (David Mercier)

Atlantic City Weekly (Lori Hoffman)

...this movie slows down to a crawl to examine the grim reality of people who live without hope, controlled by monsters who pretend to be human. ...read the complete Eastern Promises movie review at Atlantic City Weekly (Lori Hoffman)

MovieCrypt.com (Kevin A. Ranson)

A predictable plot with trademark David Cronenberg highlights is salvaged by a great cast... but just barely. ...read the complete Eastern Promises movie review at MovieCrypt.com (Kevin A. Ranson)

Urban Cinefile (Urban Cinefile Critics)

'I am just a driver; I go left, right and straight ahead,' Viggo Mortensen's Nikolai states. It's a chilling portrayal of another darkly complex character for Mortensen, and while David Cronenberg's film lacks the completeness of A History of Violence, ...read the complete Eastern Promises movie review at Urban Cinefile (Urban Cinefile Critics)

culturevulture.net (Matthew Yeager)

What do you get when you mix a talented Canadian auteur, a well-intentioned but middling British scribe and a cast made up of an American, a Frenchman, a German, and a Aussie, all playing characters of Russian descent? You might get Eastern Promises, a ...read the complete Eastern Promises movie review at culturevulture.net (Matthew Yeager)

Mr. Cranky Rates the Movies

After "A History of Violence", director David Cronenberg could do no wrong. Now, it's as if he's the second coming of Stanley Kubrick. Critics are lining up to drool all over themselves in praise of Cronenberg's "gifts". I wonder, is that a "special ...read the complete Eastern Promises movie review at Mr. Cranky Rates the Movies

Boxoffice Magazine (Kevin Courrier)

Whether bringing a horror film (The Fly), murder mystery (Spider), science fiction (The Dead Zone) or experimental fiction (Naked Lunch) to the screen, director David Cronenberg generally sets out to transcend genre in order to get at transgressive areas ...read the complete Eastern Promises movie review at Boxoffice Magazine (Kevin Courrier)

ReelViews (James Berardinelli)

Eastern Promises is the latest effort from acclaimed filmmaker David Cronenberg, whose recent work has elevated his status from that of a cult figure to someone in the mainstrem. Although the director has re-teamed with his The History of Violence star, ...read the complete Eastern Promises movie review at ReelViews (James Berardinelli)

The New York Times

The story told in â��Eastern Promisesâ�� is a grim and violent one, set in Londonâ��s expatriate Russian underworld. The film, directed by David Cronenberg from a script by Steve Knight, revisits a number of themes and motifs that are staples of the genre ...read the complete Eastern Promises movie review at The New York Times

Mark Reviews Movies (Mark Dujsik)

Eastern Promises is a mediocre crime thrillerâ��nothing more, nothing less. That it's directed by David Cronenberg is disappointing. Sure, some have gone on praising his "new" foray into basic genre pictures and bringing to them his own strange ...read the complete Eastern Promises movie review at Mark Reviews Movies (Mark Dujsik)

Los Angeles CityBeat (Andy Klein)

... has its moments of hideous violence and a few touches of Cronenberg's disgust with human flesh, but for the most part it's simply an OK gangster movie. ...read the complete Eastern Promises movie review at Los Angeles CityBeat (Andy Klein)

Washington Post (Desson Thomson)

"Eastern Promises," a chilly character thriller set in the Russian underworld of London, has elements of murder mystery and gangster melodrama. But in director David Cronenberg's hands, it's a search for moral bearing in a dark and desperate ...read the complete Eastern Promises movie review at Washington Post (Desson Thomson)

TheMovieBoy.com (Dustin Putman)

An ultimately satisfying venture with a few spot-on acting turns, but it is a tad too ordinary for a director who thrives when he is anything but. ...read the complete Eastern Promises movie review at TheMovieBoy.com (Dustin Putman)

Lobo Howls (Judith Wolfe)

Director David Cronenberg's latest work is disappointing on many levels. It is uber-violent to the point of being distracting to the main story line (however slim). The threat of violence is omnipresent. The streets of London seemed safer with Jack the ...read the complete Eastern Promises movie review at Lobo Howls (Judith Wolfe)

Guardian [UK] (Peter Bradshaw)

There are interesting scenes, moments, ideas: but Eastern Promises does not have the sinew and boldness of Cronenberg's best work. ...read the complete Eastern Promises movie review at Guardian [UK] (Peter Bradshaw)

New Yorker (Anthony Lane)

You walk out of Eastern Promises feeling spooked and sullied, as if waking from a noisome dream. �London is to blame,� one of the characters declares, but I don�t buy it. I blame David Cronenberg. ...read the complete Eastern Promises movie review at New Yorker (Anthony Lane)

New York Press (Armond White)

Eastern Promises is a pretty hollow viewing experience. It deals with the ugly life choices facing Eastern immigrants in the West (London) but seems more contrived than truthful. ...read the complete Eastern Promises movie review at New York Press (Armond White)

Cinema Blend

David Cronenbergâ��s career has been highlighted with thrillers, both brutally gruesome and thought provoking. When a director like that sets his sights on a crime drama, I expect something quite stunning â�� after all, crime dramas have created some of t ...read the complete Eastern Promises movie review at Cinema Blend

Critic Reviews

Eastern Promises (2007) Rank 2 Reviews

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