NOW ON DVD

EASTERN PROMISES

Rated R
Viggo Mortensen, Naomi Watts, Vincent Cassel, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Sinéad Cusack

Brian’s Rating       

I can remember recommending movies based solely on the performance of a single actor but I can’t recall an enthusiastic endorsement based on a single scene.

But if you can handle the violence that comes standard in a David Cronenberg film, you simply cannot miss the steam-bath fight scene between three Russian gangsters in Eastern Promises, now on DVD.

A nude and tattooed Viggo Mortensen takes on two fully clothed thugs in a fight to the death. It is pure cinematic magic. And as far as actors go, you have to see Mortensen’s work alongside that of Armin Mueller-Stahl because the two of them are at the top of their game.

Unfortunately, the rest of the film doesn’t hold up so well and what starts out as an interesting story quickly disintegrates into what could only be described as an unfinished work. Still, that one scene makes it all worthwhile.