Eastern Promises (2007)

Genre: Thriller

Directed by: David Cronenberg

Cast: Viggo Mortensen, Naomi Watts, Vincent Cassel

Running time: 101 minutes

Anna is a Russian-British midwife working in a London hospital. After delivering the baby of a teenage prostitute who died during labor, she decides to investigate the dead girl’s story, with the help of the diary she left behind. Anna soon realizes that the deceased prostitute is linked to a Russian mob family operating in London. She ends up with the family’s hired hand, Nikolai, on her tracks in what could be a very dangerious situation for her.

This film has received rave reviews from critics over the years, and that has me wondering if there is something wrong with me. I really did not like this movie. I found Mortensen, Watts and Cassel totally unbelievable in their respective roles. They never managed to make me emotionally invested into their characters’ fates.

As for the story, it had a few compelling elements and nice twist that I did not expect towards the end, but it was not enough to make this Eastern Promises enjoyable. Maybe if it had been Naomi Watts fighting naked in a locker room shower, I would have cared a little bit more, but probably not: Overall, I found this film quite disappointingly boring.

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