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"Eastern Promises"
Rated: R
Starring: Viggo Mortensen, Vincent Cassel, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Naomi Watts
Directed by David Cronenberg
Runtime: 100 min.
It's a gift some actors and actresses have when they can completely emerge themselves into a character and be that person - not just be the megastar earning millions to play a part.
For Tom Hanks, it was the title character in "Forrest Gump" or Andrew Beckett in "Philadelphia." For Forest Whitaker, it was his turn in "The Last King of Scotland" playing Idi Amin.
For Viggo Mortensen, his menacing role in "Eastern Promises" as Nikolai, the cold-hearted, violent, Russian mobster marked with tattoos of a man placed in solitary confinement for most of his terms in prison, is his moment to completely lose himself in and become the character.
And, boy, does he ever.
"Eastern Promises" tells the story of Anna (Naomi Watts), a doctor specializing in birth, working in London, which is the brooding and dark backdrop for an equally sinister film. One night, a young, pregnant girl about 14-years-old is admitted to the hospital after hemorrhaging, and gives birth to a daughter just before she dies. Anna finds the woman's diary and in an attempt to find the next of kin to save the child from foster care.
The diary was written in Russian and in seeking to translate it Anna is unknowingly led to a dangerous Russian organized crime family. She quickly finds the diary contains evidence against the family, thanks to a translation from her Russian uncle, and all the wrongs the family had committed against the dead girl.
The mob family will do anything to get the diary back and keep their crimes of rape and injecting women with heroin to keep them subservient to them secret, pulling Anna into a deadly situation, all to protect an orphaned infant.
Audiences will feel as though they are along for the treacherous and intense ride with Anna as she uncovers the facts and learns more about the girl and just what she is dealing with from the mobster family.
Mortensen's Nikolai is a driver for the family and is attempting to move up in ranks among the mob, no matter what the cost. His motives for vertical movement within the family remain hidden for most of the movie, but rest assured, his antagonist is not the classic, one-sided bad guy.
With a precious few lines of dialogue in a heavy, Russian accent, Mortensen portrays his character with his ice-cold mannerisms and menacing presence, rather than relying on words. The slicked-back hair, the dark suit and dark sunglasses Nikolai wears characterize him as a dark man of mystery, and lend him an edge of danger.
In one scene where Nikolai actually has dialogue - as opposed to just being a quiet, looming figure - he has been recruited by the boss' son to help him conceal a killing. The corpse was kept in a deep freezer, icing all of the victims' clothes to him. Nikolai casually asks for a hair dryer to thaw the body a bit to pull out the wallet and cracks jokes with one of the men who was responsible for the murder, all with a cigarette in his mouth.
Once the wallet is removed, Nikolai slowly rolls up his collared-shirt's sleeves and suggests that people leave the room because he has to take care of the fingers and teeth. Then, still smoking his cigarette, he begins cutting off the corpse's fingers.
The violence in "Eastern Promises" is extraordinarily graphic, with several scenes depicting the slitting of throats, stabbing of eyes and various other horrors. This is on par with director David Cronenberg's last movie, "A History of Violence," and the strength of the graphic scenes helps further the idea of what a dangerous world unsuspecting Anna has been pulled into.
"Eastern Promises" is an intense film, deserving of any and all praise it receives. With an Oscar-worthy performance from Mortensen and equally driving plot, "Promises" delivers on every level.
Daily Egyptian writer Alicia Wade can be reached at 536-3311 ext. 275 or awade@siude.com.
