The other night I finally got a chance to watch "Eastern Promises," which I'd been dying to see ever since I heard Terry Gross interview director David Cronenberg and star Viggo Mortensen about a year ago. It did not disappoint.
Viggo plays a low-level Russian mafioso in London, the driver for the son of the head honcho. Naomi Watts plays a midwife who unwittingly comes into possession of some incriminating information about the big guy. Conflict ensues. The plot unfolds at just the right pace, and with a satisfying conclusion.
I'm sure by now you've all heard about the infamous bath-house scene, in which Viggo, wearing nothing but a lot of Siberian prison tattoos, has to fight off two fully clad, knife-wielding Chechnyans Chechens. Oh. My. God.
Viggo knocks my socks off. I'm pretty sure I first saw him in "A Walk on the Moon," and that scene in the trailer with Diane Lane still rates as one of the sexiest I've ever seen. The next time I recall seeing him was in "A Perfect Murder," where he again wooed me (as well as Gwyneth Paltrow's character). It's possible that I saw those two moves in the reverse order; I really can't remember. Anyhow, after that came the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, and all the others. He is not only incredibly handsome, but man! Can he ever act. He is one of the most versatile actors out there. And did I mention how gorgeous he is?
If you can take some really brutal, bloody violence, you must see this. And even if you can't, you still should give it a try—it's obvious when the violent scenes are about to happen, so you can just shield your eyes. Even though that means you'll miss a few seconds of watching Viggo.
He is irresistible as Aragorn in Lord of the Rings, but has never done much for me in his other roles. Can't get used to him with short hair, but if you insist, I'm willing to give it the ol' college try!
Posted by: Elena | December 28, 2008 at 08:19 PM
I liked him in Hidalgo. The first movie I saw him in was A Perfect Murder. I'm not a LOTR fan so haven't seen him there. I think he's an underappreciated actor. And gorgeous. :-)
Posted by: Susan | December 29, 2008 at 11:30 AM
Have you seen A History of Violence?Another Mortensen/Cronenberg movie I liked a lot.
Posted by: Jon | December 29, 2008 at 01:04 PM
Apologies to Susan, but I think Viggo's an overappreciated actor. He was OK in A History of Violence, but only because Cronenberg was savvy enough to exploit his essential vapidity. I hated Eastern Promises, which combines Dickensian schmaltz with Grand Guignol violence. During the steambath scene, all I could think of was "nice choreography." And it really annoys me when we're supposed to accept Russian characters who speak to each other in Russian-accented English. For very different reasons, A Walk on the Moon left me unmoved (rolling my eyes, actually), although I liked Diane Lane's performance. Haven't seen LOTR, nor am I likely to.
Posted by: Nancy | December 29, 2008 at 02:57 PM
I am likewise annoyed when foreign characters speak to each other in accented English (particularly when they use a generic accent), but you can't fault an actor for his director's decision. And, moreover, in this case I was impressed at how much real Russian was spoken, with subtitles provided for us.
I not only like Viggo's looks and acting chops, I also admire that he speaks a whole bunch of languages, owns a small publishing house that does only poetry books, and has good lefty politics.
Posted by: Karen | December 29, 2008 at 03:09 PM
I liked "Walk on the Moon" as well but more for Diane Lane though I do like Viggo. I like saying it as well!;) Anyway I opened the Dec. 29 Time magazine and there is Viggo answering 10 questions and it appears that there is a podcast on time.com/10questions or on iTunes. Got yer back.
Posted by: Jeff | December 29, 2008 at 11:00 PM