Wake UP!

Decided to see Eastern Promises Friday after work. Knew the basic plotline of it but wasn't fully studied so most of it would be a surprise to me.

The opening scene showed a guy getting his throat slit and blood gushing out - I mean GUSHING. The audience responded in horror. I flashed on how Dennis Hopper stabbed the guy in the ear with a screwdriver in the opening scene of Speed (the first R rated movie I saw by myself and before I was truly "legal" to do so - I saw that and thought...maybe this wasn't the best idea afterall...but then the movie rocked so I got over it. ;)) This movie was not Speed-like however.

It wasn't bad and it wasn't great. (I actually preferred the Viggo/Cronenberg collaboration - A History of Violence)It is worth watching on video. Viggo Mortensen is a great actor. He just disappears in his characters. Naomi Watts...I'm noticing she seems to give the same pained expressions for a lot of the acting she does. Wasn't overly impressed. The guy that played her Uncle was great and so were other character actors that fleshed out the cast.

This is a film filled with silences and not even a third of the way into the movie there was a soft snoring that began in the audience. Some looked around and I thought it was below me and center of where I was sitting but no one seemed to be waking the person as it got louder and more obnoxious. Then it was pinpointed to a large lady sitting or rather LAYING in the back row! People kept looking, but no one was doing anything. One lady shouted to "Wake Up" but of course that didn't rouse her. Two big, sturdy guys were sitting near me but didn't move. I was tempted to approach her but was a bit worried about what her reaction might be when she woke. Then finally an older gentleman stepped up and stepped over people in the same aisle as the snoring lady and shook her, telling her to wake up because her snoring was keeping people from hearing the movie. She left about 10 minutes later.

Back to the movie - I was left with some logistic questions, like...a baby born to a mother that had been shot up with heroin, would said baby be bouncing and healthy when born? I know...it is a movie. I should roll with it...

Also, I was surprised by a fight scene that had NAKED Viggo defending himself against 2 knife wielding thugs! Now one might think this would be great to see Viggo in his birthday suit but it was actually a bit unnerving as with every swipe of the knife you worried for certain parts getting whacked off! Yikes! I'm sure that was an interesting day of filming!

And I was a tad disappointed that they let the leads kiss. The way the story ran, I felt like a tease was fine - but it didn't seem right for them to actually kiss. If you've seen it, let me know how you felt about it.

As I'm leaving the theatre in Times Square a guy is standing outside hollering at ticket buyers - "Hey, I got these movies on disc for cheaper than a ticket!" Gotta love New York! ;)