Eastern Promises Blu-ray

Eastern Promises

 (2007)

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller



The mysterious and charismatic Russian-born Nikolai Luzhin (Viggo Mortensen) is a driver for one of London's most notorious organized crime families of Eastern European origin. The family itself is part of the Vory V Zakone criminal brotherhood. Headed by Semyon (Academy Award nominee Armin Mueller-Stahl), whose courtly charm as the welcoming proprietor of the plush Trans-Siberian restaurant impeccably masks a cold and brutal core, the family's fortunes are tested by Semyon's volatile son and enforcer, Kirill (Vincent Cassel), who is more tightly bound to Nikolai than to his own father. But Nikolai's carefully maintained existence is jarred once he crosses paths at Christmastime with Anna Khitrova (Academy Award nominee Naomi Watts), a midwife at a North London hospital. Anna is deeply affected by the desperate situation of a young teenager who dies while giving birth to a baby. Anna resolves to try to trace the baby's lineage and relatives. The girl's personal diary also survives her; it is written in Russian, and Anna seeks answers in it. Anna's mother Helen (Sinéad Cusack) does not discourage her, but Anna's irascible Russian-born uncle Stepan (Jerzy Skolimowski) urges caution. He is right to do so; by delving into the diary, Anna has accidentally unleashed the full fury of the Vory. With Semyon and Kirill closing ranks and Anna pressing her inquiries, Nikolai unexpectedly finds his loyalties divided. The family tightens its grip on him; who can, or should, he trust? Several lives - including his own - hang in the balance as a harrowing chain of murder, deceit, and retribution reverberates through the darkest corners of both the family and London itself.

For more details about Eastern Promises on Blu-ray, see the Eastern Promises Blu-ray Review

Starring: Viggo Mortensen, Naomi Watts, Vincent Cassel, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Sinéad Cusack
Director: David Cronenberg

Eastern Promises Blu-ray, Video Quality

 


Like blood from a severed artery, Eastern Promises spills onto the screen with a vibrant and lifelike urgency, thanks to an excellent 1.85:1 1080p VC-1 transfer that clearly values its source image. Cronenberg’s vision of London’s seamy underbelly is bleak in narrative tone but thoroughly lush in bold, cinematic color. The interior of the Trans-Siberian restaurant is particularly vivid, with deep greens, rich crushed-velvet reds, and dark woods, all belonging to that warm, movie-land world where colors are somehow realer than real. As in most gangster films, leather jackets are a staple in Eastern Promises, and they serve as a good indication of the how deep the blacks can get in this film and still retain detail in the shadows. I was similarly wowed by the amount of sharpness on display, none of it showing any evidence of edge-enhancement. The thugs that populate the Russian mafia have had hard lives, and the sheer detail this transfer is capable of is well exemplified in the creases, folds, and furrowed brows that line each care-worn face. In fact, I was hard pressed to find any serious visual deficiencies. The biggest gripes I can muster would be the presence of some white specks on the print, and the smallest, slightest bit of banding in the bathhouse steam. Otherwise, in its confident colors and precision detail, this transfer definitely lives up to its high- definition name.

Eastern Promises Blu-ray, Audio Quality

 


The audio portion of this AV package introduces itself with a crisp thunderclap and a broad pattering of omni-directional rainfall, announcing from the outset its intention to create and sustain a foreboding tone. While most of the action of the DTS HD Master Audio 5.1 track is piped from the front speakers, the rear channels do get several opportunities to build a convincing soundscape, especially during the hoopla of hooligans outside the soccer match. Voices are well-placed in the mix, and the many thuds, cracks, and crunches of physical violence are all rendered with nuance and heft. In addition, composer Howard Shore provides a tense and somewhat understated score that complements the unfolding drama while letting the inherent tension of each scene speak for itself. Though it lacks the whiz-bang wow factor of more action-heavy titles, the track is a competent and full-bodied accompaniment to the film’s striking visual appeal.

Eastern Promises Blu-ray, News and Updates

• Today on Blu-ray - October 14th - October 14, 2008


• Three Gangster Films Announced for Blu-ray - August 15, 2008


• Eastern Promises Coming to Blu-ray - July 31, 2008

Eastern Promises Blu-ray, Forum Discussions

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