History YMMV / EasternPromises

* CompleteMonster: [[EvilOldFolks Semyon]], the leader of TheMafiya, at first seems [[BitchInSheepsClothing a nice old man]], but it's later revealed he is a domineering, abusive, and violent man who has little but contempt for his unstable, AmbiguouslyGay / ArmoredClosetGay son Kirill and also runs a sex-slave ring in addition to his usual criminal activities. He is also the rapist of at least one 14-year-old girl, having raped her out of disgust when Kirill couldn't do the deed. The girl, Tatiana, later dies in childbirth, and to cover his tracks, Semyon tries to have the people looking into Tatiana's case killed and sends Kirill to drown the baby girl--his own daughter and thus Kirill's own sister.

* SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome: The FullFrontalAssault in the bathhouse.

* MagnificentBastard: Nikolai Luzhin is a "cleaner" for the vicious [[TheMafiya vory v zakone syndicate]] under the monstrous Semyon. Secretly a mole for the FSB, Nikolai supplants Semyon little by little, becoming a rising star in the syndicate. When Semyon rapes 14-year-old sex slave Tatiana, Nikolai begins working to bring him down, memorizing Tatiana's diary before it is burned and assisting the nurse, Anna, who knows of Tatiana's baby. Helping Anna while setting up Semyon to go down for the rape of Tatiana via paternity testing Tatiana's baby, Nikolai manages to arrange things so his true aim is realized: to become the boss of the syndicate with Semyon gone, keeping Semyon's unstable, deeply closeted son Kirill under his thumb as he rises to the top of the underworld in order to systematically take down the gang and the local organized criminal activity.

* CompleteMonster: [[EvilOldFolks Semyon]], the leader of TheMafiya, at first seems [[BitchInSheepsClothing a nice old man]], but it's later revealed he is a domineering, abusive and violent man who has little but contempt for his unstable, AmbiguouslyGay son Kirill and also runs a sex-slave ring in addition to his usual criminal activities. He is also the rapist of a 14-year-old girl, having raped her out of disgust when Kirill couldn't do the deed. The girl, Tatiana, later dies in childbirth, and to cover his tracks Semyon tries to have the people looking into Tatiana's case killed and sends Kirill to drown the baby girl--Kirill's own sister.
* GeniusBonus: The attackers in the sauna fight appear to be using exotic knives when in fact they are mundane linoleum knives. WordOfGod states that if they were ever stopped by police or searched, they could just say they were on their way to linoleum-cutting job.
* MagnificentBastard: Nikolai Luzhin is a "cleaner" for the vicious [[TheMafiya Vory v Zakone syndicate]] under the monstrous Semyon. Secretly a mole for the FSB, Nikolai supplants Semyon little by little becoming a rising star in the syndicate. When Semyon rapes 14 year old prostitute Tatiana, Nikolai begins working to bring him down, memorizing Tatiana's diary before it is burned and assisting the nurse Anna, who knows of Tatiana's baby. Helping Anna while setting up Semyon to go down for the rape of Tatiana via paternity testing Tatiana's baby, Nikolai manages to arrange things so his true aim is realized: to become the boss of the syndicate with Semyon gone, keeping Semyon's unstable, deeply closeted son Kirill under his thumb as he rises to the top of the underworld.
%% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample * SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome: The FullFrontalAssault.

* {{Narm}}: "YOU ARE GOING TO FAHK ONE OF THESE BEETCHES!"
* NightmareFuel: This is a very unflinching look into the world of the Russian Mafia, and it is not pretty. Graphic throat slashings, a brutal knife fight scene, and Tatiana's story in particular all make for a very disturbing movie.

* GeniusBonus: The attackers in the sauna fight appear to be using exotic knives when in fact they are mundane linoleum knives.

** Made cooler when you realize the movie was cast by Nina Gold, the same woman who cast Series/GameOfThrones. Entirely possible that Maester Luwin and Pyp are played by Donald Sumpter and Josef Altin, respectively, precisely because Nina Gold remembered them from their work here.

* SpiritualSuccessor: To Film/AHistoryOfViolence obviously, but there is one particularly interesting parallel with Nickolai's character and [[spoiler: Tom Stahl]] where one is [[spoiler: an every day family man with a secret past involving murderous Irish mobsters and the other is an undercover police officer who has infiltrated an especially violent family of Russian mobsters]].

* CompleteMonster: Semyon, the leader of TheMafiya, at first seems [[BaitTheDog a nice old man]], but it's later revealed he is a domineering, abusive and violent man who has little but contempt for his unstable, AmbiguouslyGay son Kirill and also runs a sex-slave ring in addition to his usual criminal activities. He is also the rapist of a 14-year-old girl, having raped her out of disgust when Kirill couldn't do the deed. The girl, Tatiana, later dies in childbirth, and to cover his tracks Semyon tries to have the people looking into Tatiana's case killed and sends Kirill to drown the baby girl--Kirill's own sister.

* MagnificentBastard: Nikolai Luzhin is a 'cleaner' for the vicious [[TheMafiya Vory v Zakone syndicate]] under the monstrous Semyon. Secretly a mole for the FSB, Nikolai supplants Semyon little by little becoming a rising star in the syndicate. When Semyon rapes 14 year old prostitute Tatiana, Nikolai begins working to bring him down, memorizing Tatiana's diary before it is burned and assisting the nurse Anna, who knows of Tatiana's baby. Helping Anna while setting up Semyon to go down for the rape of Tatiana via paternity testing Tatiana's baby, Nikolai manages to arrange things so his true aim is realized: to become the boss of the syndicate with Semyon gone, keeping Semyon's unstable, deeply closeted son Kirill under his thumb as he rises to the top of the underworld.

** Made cooler when you realize the movie was cast by Nina Gold, the same woman who cast Series/GameofThrones. Entirely possible that Maester Luwin and Pyp are played by Donald Sumpter and Josef Altin, respectively, precisely because Nina Gold remembered them from their work here.

* CrowningMomentOfAwesome: The FullFrontalAssault.

** As of 2013, you can add Tatiana Maslany as the voice of Tatiana.