"An acquaintance of mine has also shared his changing perceptions on Cronenberg recently by saying he's lost his edge and is now being led around by Big Central Themes and is basically cruising on his reputation."

I don't see such implication anywhere in R6dw6C's post (or in mine, for that matter).

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"Your reviews display both a point of view that is very different from mine, arsaib and justin."

And to me our point-of-views seem pretty much the same. Despite the fact that "masterful" is an adjective I associate with A History of Violence, not Eastern Promises, as it's obvious from my post/grade, I do admire the latter quite a bit.

"But he didn't get completely rid of his popular trademarks and the physics of his earlier films changed to a gambling with sensual surfaces and arrangements of people with their environment."

Good point. Cronenberg's oeuvre was fresh in my mind while I reviewed A History of Violence but that unfortunately wasn't the case here. If one looks closely enough at the likes of Scanners and Videodrome, his fascination with isolated communities and subcultures does make its mark.

"And almost all of the actors were absolutely stunning - maybe except of Naomi Watts who's been better in the past."

Perhaps. Her character was relatively straightforward when compared to that of Mortensen's or even Cassel's.

"Eastern Promises" is most interesting in the context of Cronenberg's whole Oeuvre but less interesting as a stand-alone film, imo."

Interesting. I find it difficult now to consider the two as separate entities. In fact, that may be virtually impossible to do.