EASTERN PROMISES a nude fight scene starring Viggo!

Mafia movies are guaranteed to bring you three things:

1. An over-confident boss operating behind some domestic front like a restaurant or a laundromat.
2. A young heir looking to take over the family "business" more sooner than later.
3. Lots of crushed bones, buckets of blood, and a sidewalk full of half smoked cigs. (Combined into one for brevity's sake.)

We've seen this tried and true formula before in last year's Best Movie pic (THE DEPARTED) and in countless classics like SCARFACE, and THE GODFATHER. EASTERN PROMISES delivers all of these must-haves with a Russian Accent and a naked Viggo Mortensen.

We follow a young nurse, Anna (Naomi Watts), searching for the relatives of a baby who's mother died in birth. Her only guide is what's written within the mother's diary written all in Russian. In her search, she stumbles into a world of Vodka and names ending in "-ov" known as the Russian Mafia. Here, she meets a friendly chauffeur with a dark streak and looking like the blond Russian boxer from ROCKY 3 (I Will Break You!) named Nikolai (Viggo Mortensen).

Viggo Mortensen (of Aragorn-fame in the LORD OF THE RING trilogy) carries this complex character with intelligence, strength, and poise as he tightropes between the raw ruthlessness of the mafia and the true honesty of Anna. He bares all for his craft including a long fight scene where he fends off two assassins in his birthday suit with mighty Anduril swinging to and fro for all to see. Apparently, there is such thing as TOO MUCH Viggo. Still, this doesn't take away from this amazing role.
EASTERN PROMISES was produced by Focus Features (an independent subsidiary of Universal Pictures). I've never been led astray with movies from this company. As soon as I see they were involved with this movie at the opening, I knew I was in for at minimum a great story on a shoestring budget (well...shoestring in Hollywood means they only throw a few dozen mil at its production). Focus Features have also produced other great (but outside the norm) movies like BEING JOHN MALKOVICH (1999), THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES (2004), TRAFFIC (2000), LOST IN TRANSLATION (2003), and this year's IN BRUGES (2008). I highly recommend anything in their repertoire. EASTERN PROMISES is no different.

This is your atypical mafia movie taken from a slightly different point of view.

7.5 Viggo Chin Dimples out of 10