When I saw Eastern Promises in the theater upon its release in September of 2007, I had high hopes. The year had yet to turn into the year it’s become (one of the best ever), and so a new Cronenberg was to be met with great enthusiasm.  September is a curious month for movies, when a film is released in that month it usually means the studio doesn’t know what to do with it. Such may have been the case here, and the Academy gave it one nomination, but the right one, one to Viggo Mortensen for his excellent performance. But in watching it in the theater, and now for the third time at home my reaction is still odd: it‘s the first David Cronenberg film since M. Butterfly that seemed phoned in. After the great success of A History of Violence, there was so little interesting Cronenberg in the Cronenberg.

Sure, there are touches. Naomi Watts plays Anna, a young nurse who gets the diary of a young Russian whore who gives birth and then dies, leaving a baby that Anna can’t help but mother. Anna comes from the old country, but doesn’t know the language, while her uncle (who does) is a surly racist. Such leads her to restaurant named on a card found in the diary, a restaurant run by Seymon (Armin Mueller-Stahl), where his young son Kirill (Vincent Cassell) and driver Nikolai (Viggo Mortensen) hang out and occasionally work. Kirill has created trouble for himself when he kills a man who was spreading stories about him. As Nikolai rises in the ranks, Seymon must puts Nikolai in the way to protect his son. And Kirill has obvious predilections and weaknesses that aren’t so well buried under the surface.

And then there’s the baby. Which Anna wants to take care of and the diary implicates Seymon as the father. So, basically, there’s two movies: The interesting one about the Russian Mob in modern day London and their people trafficking, and the one about a nurse who found a diary. The two halves don’t successfully merge. But at home, you can appreciate what has been accomplished versus what doesn’t work, which is essentially the narrative hook. Viggo Mortensen has become one of the most interesting actors working today and his performance here shows that he’s got a lot of game and is fearless about letting himself be backgrounded but still commanding, or - as is most famous by now - going full frontal in one of the most brutal fights in the history of cinema. There are about three great scenes, all owned by Viggo, that make the film worth a look, but mostly for on repeated viewinsg, -when the neatness and obligatory plot elements can be overshadowed by the performances - does the film come alive. Alas, those weak screenplay elements are a heady hurdle to mount. That said, I’ve grown to like what I like about this film, and that’s enough.

Eastern Promises is presented in widescreen (1.78:1) and in 5.1 DTS HD. And there is nothing like a recent film to show off one’s home theater. This film looks and sounds better than it did on SD, and I got sucked in again whilst watching it, even though I find the film disappointing on a whole. Extras are expanded from the DVD release: “Secrets and Stories” (11 min.), the more general making of, and “Marked for Life” (7 min.), which focuses on the tattoos that Viggo wears throughout the film are carried over, but now there’s “Two Guys Walk into a Bath House” (2 min.), on the film’s most justly famous scene, and “Watts on Wheels” (1 min.) offers Watts thoughts on hog riding. Not much, but at least you get something.