Eastern PromisesMovie Reviews

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Avg. Critic Score: 82 out of 100 Universal acclaim Metascore^® based on all critic reviews

Information for Parents:

not for kids

Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

100

Chicago Sun-Times | Roger Ebert
The actors and the characters merge and form a reality above and apart from the story, and the result is a film that takes us beyond crime and London and the Russian mafia and into the mystifying realms of human nature. Read full review
90

The Hollywood Reporter |
Cronenberg and screenwriter Steve Knight masterfully orchestrate an atmosphere of danger and dread for a descent into an underworld inhabited by the Russian mafia in London. Read full review
90

Variety | Todd McCarthy
A superbly wrought yarn set in the milieu of first-generation Russian mobsters in London that is simultaneously tough-minded and compassionate about the human condition, Eastern Promises instantly takes its place among David Cronenberg's very best films. Read full review
90

The New York Times | A.O. Scott
The rigor of Mr. Cronenberg's direction sometimes seems at odds with the humanism of Mr. Knight's script, but more often the director's ruthless formal command rescues the story from its maudlin impulses. Mr. Knight aims earnestly for your heartstrings, but Mr. Cronenberg insists on getting under your skin. The result is a movie whose images and implications are likely to stay in your head for a long time. Read full review
88

Rolling Stone | Peter Travers
In Eastern Promises, shot to envelop by the great Peter Suschitzky, Cronenberg brings us face to face with the horror of self. Read full review
80

Los Angeles Times | Carina Chocano
Expertly realized and gunmetal slick, Eastern Promises whirs along with perfect efficiency, but doesn't stir much in the way of visceral horror despite its penchant for treating the human body like a chicken carcass on a block. (Squeamishness, yes.) Read full review
80

Washington Post | Desson Thomson
Cronenberg's deeper purpose is to pull audiences into an affecting, powerful story about right and wrong. Read full review
75

San Francisco Chronicle | Mick LaSalle
A thoroughly entertaining film by a director at the height of his ability. Read full review
75

USA Today | Claudia Puig
Eastern Promises has a compelling story and strong performances to back up what may seem excessive or sensationalistic. Read full review
75

Entertainment Weekly | Owen Gleiberman
It's an academic meditation in underworld-thriller drag -- a movie that looks about as close to a straight-ahead, down-and-dirty genre entertainment as anything the director has made since his exploding-head horror days. Read full review

Metacritic link View more reviews for Eastern Promises on Metacritic

Information for Parents

Common Sense Media says not for kids Compelling but brutal mafia film for adults only.

What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that violence -- both graphic and implied -- permeates this film (just as it did Viggo Mortensen and David Cronenberg's last collaboration, A History of Violence). From the first scene (which shows a brutal throat cutting) on, it's clear that kids and teens aren't the intended audience. Women are manhandled, men are murdered, babies are kidnapped, sons are betrayed, and sexual acts are forced, with little or no emotion. There's also smoking, drinking, strong language, and full nudity. It all serves a complex storyline that yields an intriguing film. But if you're not a Cronenberg fan, you may walk away stunned and appalled.

Families can talk about how the movie depicts mob life. Does it glamorize it or paint a more distasteful picture? How is it similar to and different from other movies about the mafia? Why are films in general fascinated by the criminal underworld? What about that subject drives filmmakers and screenwriters to explore it over and over? Families can also talk about the role of violence in the movie. Is it necessary to tell the story? Why or why not? How realistic do you think it is?

The good stuff

Positive messages: Murder, deception, brutality, kidnapping, smuggling, homophobia -- there's a panoply of questionable behavior on display here.

What to watch for

Violence: Brutal and nearly unrelenting, whether outright graphic or implied. In the opening scene, the throat of a man sitting in a barber shop chair is slit while the camera zooms up close; later, mobsters cut off his fingers so that there won't be any fingerprints (also shown in close-up). A young girl collapses in a pool of blood, Semyon beats his son at the drop of a hat, and Kirill then takes out his frustrations on others. A particularly bloody fight unfolds in a bathhouse, where a naked Nikolai goes up against two clothed intruders bearing knives. One ends up with a dagger in his eyeballs (again, seen up close). Accompanying all of this is a cacophony of disturbing sounds of bones crunching and flesh being hacked to pieces. Women are raped and coerced into sex.
Sex: Tatiana and Nikolai share a tender kiss. All other scenes of sex/nudity involve women clearly under the influence of force and/or coercion. One of these disturbing scenes shows a woman having intercourse (her breasts and bottom are bare) while her eyes are glazed over, as if she's completely disconnected from the act. Images include full nudity, though it's artfully staged so that the camera doesn't linger too long on genitalia (viewers just get flashes of them).
Language: Many uses of "f--k," "bitch," and "whore."
Consumerism: Occasional: Business card for a Russian restaurant, champagne label, Mercedes Benz.
Drinking, drugs and smoking: Alcohol fuels the mayhem and seemingly numbs characters to their acts of violence (in a few scenes at a brothel, men drink from liquor bottles before they have sex -- one of them forcibly -- with the women). The young girl, Tatiana, has track marks on her arms, proof that she was drugged so she wouldn't fight her unfortunate circumstances. The men smoke endlessly, and there's social drinking and smoking in the restaurant.

Common Sense Media An independent nonprofit dedicated to providing families the information they need to help kids thrive in a world of media and technology. © Common Sense Media Inc. 2010. All rights reserved.