EP DVD/ Reviews
The Eastern Promises DVD is now available for preorder at Amazon.com in wide-screen, full-screen, and hd-dvd. The release date is December 26.
EP opened in Finland last week and garnered the following awesome reviews (from kaneli at Viggo Works):
Sara Ehnholm Hielm (Hufvudstadsbladet)
Quote:
Viggo Mortensen (apparently Cronenberg’s new favourite) as the Russian driver and mafioso Nikolai is the best thing in the film… his light blue eyes express a bottomless loneliness, a charisma so seductively lingering that it is clear both Anna and the boss’s son fall head over heels, and a fascinating moral ambivalence.
© Hufvudstadsbladet
Antti Selkokari (Aamulehti)
Quote:
The problem is the disproportion between Mortensen and the film: Mortensen’s character rises to such majestic proportions that it towers over nearly the whole film. …You could write small volumes on Viggo Mortensen’s acting and presence, it is so captivating. Nikolai, as played by Viggo Mortensen, behaves as if he knew all the time how lonely power makes you.
© Aamulehti
Veli-Pekka Lehtonen (Helsingin Sanomat, Nyt-liite)
Quote:
Viggo Mortensen becomes the great totem of the movie. He is Nikolai, the Russian driver. Mortensen is the rare kind of actor who combines compassion and a languid gaze to toughness in a natural way. This equation creates a hero and a crook at the same time. Therefore interesting.
© Helsingin Sanomat
Lauri Lehtinen (Anna)
Quote:
The clear-eyed Mortensen acts better and with more assurance than ever.
© Anna
Harri Närhi (City)
Quote:
They have found brilliant actors for this mafiac EU-age multinationality drama: the whole central quartet plays stunningly together the tango of darkness and Kalinka of death. But the most unbroken solo belongs to Viggo, whose agent has found just the right roles for this clear-eyed Wooden Indian. Now that Clint Eastwood is getting on, this gruff guy fills his place with respect to tradition.
© Citypress Oy
Minna Karila (MTV3.fi)
Quote:
Viggo Mortensen acts brilliantly once again, now his role is a mafioso capable of immense cruelty and yet hiding a good amount of goodness and humanity under his brutality. Mortensen’s quiet charisma and vulnerability has come to fore thanks to Cronenberg.
© MTV3.fi
Jari Tapani Peltonen (V2.fi)
Quote:
Eastern Promises is Viggo Mortensen’s show. Mortensen disappears completely into his character Nikolai, who is both fascinating and mystical as well as very, very scary. … Mortensen’s twisted charisma prevents you from drawing too many conclusions about the real purposes of the character, which lack simplicity.
© V2.fi
Susanna Bell (Uusi Suomi)
Quote:
The most mysterious character is the ”good” gangster Nikolai. No one else than Viggo Mortensen could have played the part; there is no other so austere-looking actor in Hollywood. Mortensen as an actor has numerous good sides, and in this movie we see them all.
© Uusi Suomi
Tuomas Riskala (Episodi)
Quote:
Viggo Mortensen, who reportedly travelled before the shoot to Russia alone to study the mores of the mafia, Uralian dialect and the meanings of prison tattoos, gives a tour-de-force performance in the lead. The strength of it can only be rivalled by the great roles in the early 1990s in the Reflecting Skin and The Indian Runner. Mortensen’s Nikolai is the perfect combination of threat, mystery and physical control reaching almost ascetic proportions. The result is a character who is chilly and frightening, but also pity-evoking and emotionally scarred. Vincent Cassel, who is not bad at all in his role, is left utterly in Mortensen’s shadow.
© Episodi
Jussi U. Pellonpää (FilmiFin.com)
Quote:
The cathalyst of it all is Viggo Mortensen, who takes possession of his role with incredible intensity.
© FilmiFin.com
EP opened in Finland last week and garnered the following awesome reviews (from kaneli at Viggo Works):
Sara Ehnholm Hielm (Hufvudstadsbladet)
Quote:
Viggo Mortensen (apparently Cronenberg’s new favourite) as the Russian driver and mafioso Nikolai is the best thing in the film… his light blue eyes express a bottomless loneliness, a charisma so seductively lingering that it is clear both Anna and the boss’s son fall head over heels, and a fascinating moral ambivalence.
© Hufvudstadsbladet
Antti Selkokari (Aamulehti)
Quote:
The problem is the disproportion between Mortensen and the film: Mortensen’s character rises to such majestic proportions that it towers over nearly the whole film. …You could write small volumes on Viggo Mortensen’s acting and presence, it is so captivating. Nikolai, as played by Viggo Mortensen, behaves as if he knew all the time how lonely power makes you.
© Aamulehti
Veli-Pekka Lehtonen (Helsingin Sanomat, Nyt-liite)
Quote:
Viggo Mortensen becomes the great totem of the movie. He is Nikolai, the Russian driver. Mortensen is the rare kind of actor who combines compassion and a languid gaze to toughness in a natural way. This equation creates a hero and a crook at the same time. Therefore interesting.
© Helsingin Sanomat
Lauri Lehtinen (Anna)
Quote:
The clear-eyed Mortensen acts better and with more assurance than ever.
© Anna
Harri Närhi (City)
Quote:
They have found brilliant actors for this mafiac EU-age multinationality drama: the whole central quartet plays stunningly together the tango of darkness and Kalinka of death. But the most unbroken solo belongs to Viggo, whose agent has found just the right roles for this clear-eyed Wooden Indian. Now that Clint Eastwood is getting on, this gruff guy fills his place with respect to tradition.
© Citypress Oy
Minna Karila (MTV3.fi)
Quote:
Viggo Mortensen acts brilliantly once again, now his role is a mafioso capable of immense cruelty and yet hiding a good amount of goodness and humanity under his brutality. Mortensen’s quiet charisma and vulnerability has come to fore thanks to Cronenberg.
© MTV3.fi
Jari Tapani Peltonen (V2.fi)
Quote:
Eastern Promises is Viggo Mortensen’s show. Mortensen disappears completely into his character Nikolai, who is both fascinating and mystical as well as very, very scary. … Mortensen’s twisted charisma prevents you from drawing too many conclusions about the real purposes of the character, which lack simplicity.
© V2.fi
Susanna Bell (Uusi Suomi)
Quote:
The most mysterious character is the ”good” gangster Nikolai. No one else than Viggo Mortensen could have played the part; there is no other so austere-looking actor in Hollywood. Mortensen as an actor has numerous good sides, and in this movie we see them all.
© Uusi Suomi
Tuomas Riskala (Episodi)
Quote:
Viggo Mortensen, who reportedly travelled before the shoot to Russia alone to study the mores of the mafia, Uralian dialect and the meanings of prison tattoos, gives a tour-de-force performance in the lead. The strength of it can only be rivalled by the great roles in the early 1990s in the Reflecting Skin and The Indian Runner. Mortensen’s Nikolai is the perfect combination of threat, mystery and physical control reaching almost ascetic proportions. The result is a character who is chilly and frightening, but also pity-evoking and emotionally scarred. Vincent Cassel, who is not bad at all in his role, is left utterly in Mortensen’s shadow.
© Episodi
Jussi U. Pellonpää (FilmiFin.com)
Quote:
The cathalyst of it all is Viggo Mortensen, who takes possession of his role with incredible intensity.
© FilmiFin.com