Release Date:
12/23/2007
Why didn't anyone tell us about this movie sooner? Or maybe someone did and we ignored them. (Eh, sounds like us.) Viggo Mortensen shakes off those needy hobbits and goes hard core as a Russian mobster working his way up the ladder in London. He's cold and emotionless until a local nurse (Naomi Watts) disrupts his regular routine. David Cronenberg picks up where A History of Violence leaves off and creates a world so fascinating that we never wanted to leave. The Russian mafia has become the stereotypical bad-guy device in every modern movie, but we finally get to see what it's all about. From the structure to the tattoos, this feels like a documentary more than a movie, and the violence is horrifying, capped off with Mortensen battling a few hit men in a steam room while completely naked. Talk about a brave performance. (Lucky for him, it was a steam room. If it were a cold shower he might have thought twice about losing the towel.)