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Article: Viggo Mortensen dominates in Russian mob thriller 'Eastern Promises'
- Article from:
- Capital (Annapolis)
- Article date:
- September 14, 2007
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2007 Capital (Annapolis). Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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It could have been epic, this tale of Russian mobsters prowling
the London underworld. It could have been an instant classic - David
Cronenberg's "Godfather," perhaps.
But in an industry in which directors can't seem to bring in a
picture at a reasonable length, Cronenberg's "Eastern Promises" feels
tantalizingly too short.
It's both brutally violent and breathtakingly human. It's a crime
thriller, yes, but through Cronenberg's peculiar perspective, working
from a script by Steve Knight, it's never standard or obvious. In
claustrophobic settings both bleak and garishly opulent, the film
holds you in an increasingly tight grip and then it just ... ends,
clipped suddenly, leaving you longing ...