Film Preview: Eastern Promises (2007)

Trailers (Due to age, may no longer be available)

Posters (Due to age, may no longer be available)

Poster Rating: C-

Review: A pair of hands and some tattoos with far too much black, white and red. There’s nothing remotely interesting about the poster besides the tattoos and the short bar at the base featuring actors Viggo Mortensen and Naomi Watts jars the poster out of theme and really just makes it disinteresting to look at.

Trailer Rating: B-; B-

Review: Another likely critical success for David Cronenberg. Even though A History of Violence had its problems near the end, critics still lapped it up. Now, we have another Viggo Mortensen-Cronenberg collaboration that is likely to impress critics even if the preview gives us the impression the film isn’t going to be that amazing.

The second trailer does nothing to improve upon my first impression. Watts looks completely wrong for the style of film and Mortensen’s accent has already started to grate on my nerves.

Oscar Prospects:

A History of Violence didn’t get a lot of attention from the Academy and Cronenberg’s history with Oscar isn’t terribly stellar, so don’t expect too much from this film at the 80th Academy Awards.

Release Date:

September 14, 2007

Synopsis:

David Cronenberg’s latest film is a tremendous effort. Avoiding many of the pitfalls that caused A History of Violence to underwhelm, Easetern Promises succeeds in every narrative and performance area.