David Cronenberg: All 21 Films Ranked From Worst To Best

10. Eastern Promises

Eastern Promises is quite difficult to place in this list, because on paper it may actually be a slightly better film than A History Of Violence, its predecessor and the one with which it is so frequently compared. However, AHOV finishes the higher of the two masterpieces because, on its arrival, it was just more stunningly shocking to see Cronenberg doing crime drama. Eastern Promises lacked that shock of the new. It's great on repeat viewings, though. Viggo Mortensen is amazing in this film. He is undoubtedly one of the best character actors in the business, and Cronenberg has trusted him with some of his most complex characters. He embodies Nikolai Luzhin perfectly, to the extent that it doesn't take long to absolutely believe that he is a Russian. This is a heavily-layered film, with espionage, double-crossing, romance and hyper-violence all appearing throughout, and Mortensen manages to pull all of these loose threads into one carefully layered character. It is difficult to fully decide what Mortensen's motivations are, and whether the audience is supposed to be rooting for or disturbed by him. In other words, he is just about the perfect anti-hero. That is testament to both Cronenberg's exceptional writing, and Mortensen's nuanced performance. The film is also helped by its completely unforgettable shower scene too, of course.