Eastern Promises

I really don't know where to begin with this movie, or even if I liked it or not. It was very graphic and bloody. Usually I don't mind it too much in movie, but in this case it was a little hard to watch.

Anyway , in the first scene of the movie there is a guy getting a shave at the barbershop, then the barber has his nephew cut the guy's throat in a very gruesome scene.  We then move to a pharmacy where there is a teenager who walks in a passes out. She is sent to the hospital where we meet the midwife Anna (Naomi Watts). The baby is born healthy, but the mother dies. Anna finds the girl's journal but it is in Russian. She brings it to her uncle, but her uncle refuses to translate it so she decides to bring it to the Russian mob...great idea Anna. It is there we see Kirill (Vincent Cassel) and Nikolai (Viggo Mortensen). Kirill is the mob boss' son and isn't exactly living up to the family name. He was the one who ordered the guy at the beginning of the movie killed. This upsets his father Semyon (Armin Mueller-Stahl) because the guy's brothers want revenge.  So Semyon decides to set up Nikolai to take the fall.

In the meantime Anna has finally convinced her uncle to translate the journal and it tells them the story of forced prostitution and drug abuse. She discovers that Semyon is the child's father and she tells Nikolai, for some reason. She tries to get Semyon to admit it, or at least to give her the address of the girl's parents so she can give the baby to them, but it doesn't work.

Two goons meet up with Nikolai at the sauna and there is a scene of full frontal male nudity, that alone makes this movie stand out to me. Then one of the goons gets stabbed in the eye and that was disgusting. Nikolai is brought to the hospital and apparently there is only one hospital because it is the same one Anna works at. We then see a police detective talking to Nikolai and it is revealed that he is in fact an undercover cop trying to take down the Russian mob. He tells the detective that Semyon is guilty of statutory rape and if they can get his blood , they can prove that he is the father of the baby and arrest him.  Semyon sees this coming and has Kirill dispose of the baby, only Nikolai and Anna are able to stop him. As I said, Kirill: not mob material.  Nikolai then takes over the crime family and Anna keeps the baby and the movie is over.... really? That's the end? It feels like there should be more, like the story didn't really end. I mean, he took down Semyon, but is he going to go back to the force or continue on in the family. It was a little unclear. [Coral: I thought Nikolai was an informant, not a cop. As an informant he could stop informing whenever he wanted. But then they would arrest him because they know he commits crimes? Completely confusing either way.]

Anyway, the movie was very gory and I supposed in a way that's good, because you can't really complain that this movie is glorifying organized crime. There were a few things I didn't like in the movie, besides the fact that it had no ending. First of all there was absolutely no chemistry whatsoever between Anna and Nikolai. Their kiss was very unbelievable. Kirill and Nikolai had more chemistry. The second thing that really bothered me was the fact that women had one of two roles, they were either a whore or a mother, and in some instances both. It was very subtle with Anna, but I picked it up. She rode a motorcycle and wore very masculine clothes, until she adopted the baby and then they put her in a dress, as if to say she is now a woman because she has a child.

Other than that the rest of the movie was good. The acting was excellent and the story flowed I just wish it ended. In all honesty I still don't know if I liked the movie or not.

Grade: 6.5/10