Eastern Promises

It's always with hesitation that I go to my next movie, after a film like "3:10 to Yuma". I didn't go see "Shoot 'Em Up" or "The Brave One" for that very reason. It's been a couple of weeks, and I kind of wanted to get back in the theater, hopefully to see something good. "Eastern Promises" was a good next movie. Like so many films it would be easy to sum up the general plot of the film in a few sentences, but to do so would almost belittle what made the film good. Now I could tell you that it is the gentle love story between a kind woman and a brutal man. Yes, that would capture the essence of the film, but it would miss all the other pieces of the puzzle. The bad guys in this film get more than equal time, they are people too. Some of our initial impressions, just like in real life are sometimes not quite right. There are relationships between people who would rather not even know each other, and sometimes those are the most interesting. I feel that it is my obligation once again to point out that when I review a rated R movie, and I mention that one of the characters is "brutal", I can't be held completely responsible for people watching this film who probably would rather not. As I see these films, including "3:10 to Yuma", I understand that the violence is there for a reason, in many cases to jolt us and contrast good against evil. At the same time, I believe that it almost always is overused or misused. Maybe another time we can discuss some examples and exaimine this closer, but right now I've got to get some sleep. Goodnight.