After seeing Cronenbergs last movie ‘A History of Violence’ my hopes for this one weren’t too high. ‘A History of Violence’ was a terrible movie, especially plot-wise and I’m afraid this movie suffers from the same symptoms; the storyline is just so flat, there are no (real) surprises. To me, this kind of crime story has already been told many times in movies and often a lot better. The setting this time is the Russian mafia in London, which forces the cast to brush up on their best Russian accent, I’m sorry; it just doesn’t work (for me). The movie isn’t bad, but I don’t care for it or its characters and that is a shame because Viggo Mortensen actually is rather good. Cronenberg wants to teach too much about the context; the honor code of the mafia, the victims of human trafficking and prostitution, the movie’s own story ends up getting lost. And the images presented are so cliché; the Russians have black suits and sunglasses and the Chechen all wear those black leather coats. Surely this isn’t the way it is in real life?!
