I just saw this flick, thought it was fantastic. The whole naked fight scene was fantastic. We have a lot of Stephen King readers here. Was anyone else reminded of “The Drawing of the Three” and Eddie Dean’s naked fighting scene. I don’t have my copy handy but I believe King describes Roland as really admiring this about him, that he would fight so fiercely when usually people seem to try and hide themselves in the nude.
Oh, and it was mentioned up thread, but not a single gun was fired because it took place in London. I’m not saying that the mob couldn’t have gotten one, but it would be stupid for them to get caught with one when knifing is customary.
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Maybe it was a bad night, or something, but I was seriously UNDERwhelmed by this movie. I don’t think I had all that great of expectations. I did like “History of Violence”. But I came away from “Eastern Promises” feeling like I kept waiting for the really great part…that never showed up. I thought the cast was great, and all did a good job. But the movie just seem VERY slow paced…like uncomfortably plodding slow at times.
I agree with this sentiment. Kept waiting for something to happen then it was over. Maybe its setup for the second act. still liked it though and he does have a nice body.
Also, is there any sympathy for the character of Kirill in thi movie? (Played by Vincent Cassel)
He’s a child raping monster of a drunken evil mobster. But in the end does make one small redeeming decision regarding the baby.
Yeah, I actually felt bad for his character for most of the movie. He was a total tool - his dad treats him with an utter lack of respect, he had an inferiority complex a mile wide (e.g. his reaction when Viggo’s character gets his stars), and once we find out what Viggo is actually up to, you realize Vincent’s character really has nobody at all. Yeah, he was a loathsome guy, but it’s still sad.
We caught this tonight, and unfortunately, missed the first few minutes of it. What I couldn’t figure out is why Vincent Cassel’s character called the person he had killed a pedarist. Was there any explanation of that in the first few minutes of the movie?
Late to the show, but I’m watching this now for the first time off DVD.
I’m only a half hour in, but I have to say that Viggo is perfectly presenting perhaps the most scary mother fucker I’ve ever seen on a screen. Even if the rest of the film sucks, it still would have been worth it. 
I didn’t like the film nearly as much as I wanted to like it. It has a lot of good things going for it. The acting was great but the script was lacking.
1 Why would the midwife even get to take the diary home? Whouldn’t the police be involved?
2 I made Viggo as a cop pretty quickly. I’m not sure what tipped me off but I knew it very early.
3 The set up for the naked fight. Tatoos are everything, we are told. The meeting is held in the bath house so the tats will be visible. Yet he is in there with a guy with no tats at all on his body. Then the dialogue leading to the set was so klunky. How could Viggo not know it was a set up and how could the other guy not know Viggo was a cop?
4 After the mob tries to kill Viggo, he still thinks he can be undercover? Even if they don’t know he is a cop, they purposely gave him the stars just to have him killed. The rest of the mob should know that isn’t really mob.