A 'Promise' in blood - Film

A 'Promise' in blood - Film

Mortensen owns Russian mobster role
By Blake Goble, Daily Arts Writer on 9/24/07

Sleek, lean and lethal, Nikolai Luzhin is a frighteningly efficient solider in the Vory V Salome, London's Russian mafia. He's the recent recipient of high honors, and he flaunts it with a body covered in imposing tattoos.

But such badges don't matter when he's stark naked in a Russian bathhouse and about to be butchered. Struggling and desperate, Nikolai must brawl with two bounty hunters coming at him with knives. Nikolai is scared, doggedly working to ensure his own life however he can.

Graphic and haunting, this may be the classic scene of "Eastern Promises," the moment that will be immortalized later like the best of "Scarface" or "Fight Club." It's the climax of an unforgettable thriller from now-elder statesman David Cronenberg ("A History of Violence"), arguably his most accomplished work to date.

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