Eastern Promises

Continuity mistake: When Nikolai is sitting in the chair in the brothel, his jacket sleeve is pulled up to his elbow. When Kiril pulls Nikolai to his feet, the sleeve is pulled all the way down. (00:34:00)

Continuity mistake: When Nikolai and Semyon are drinking vodka during the diary exchange, Semyon empties his glass, but when he puts it back on the table it is full.

Continuity mistake: Naomi Watts holds the baby to her chest while Viggo Mortensen walks away; she is supporting her with her right hand behind her head, which becomes the left hand in the faraway shot. In the same shot, Kiril is jumping around, but is leaning against the wall at the following cut. (01:33:30)

Sammo

Continuity mistake: In the finale, once Nikolai delivers the line about being king, the baby cries. From that point on, the side views come from takes filmed while the baby was sleeping and therefore is quiet and still, while shots from a different angle have Christine moving. (01:32:35)

Sammo

Continuity mistake: Anna sits by Nikolai at the hospital, and after a while, he turns towards her as she moves her hands to her thighs. The next shot though has rather spotty continuity; Anna's hands are turned differently, the eye contact with Nikolai is lost, and the heart monitor from 47-48 has now a mostly steady 55 pulses. (01:21:45)

Sammo

Continuity mistake: After some fighting on the floor, Nikolai manages to put a knife in the chest of one of the sauna killers, and is fighting with the other. They get close to two poor dudes who are minding their own business; in the first shot you see the younger of the two completely stepping out of the way, a good couple meters away from the action. In the next one though, Viggo, the aggressor and those 2 are practically in a single line. (01:18:50)

Sammo

Continuity mistake: The bigger Chechen assassin punches Nikolai after the first slice across the chest. When Viggo is rolling on the floor and ends up on all fours close to the wall, his chest is quite clean, but when the guy angrily walks up to him, his chest is a bloody mess just before getting kicked. (01:18:05)

Sammo

Eastern Promises mistake picture

Continuity mistake: Nikolai gets hurt for the first time (slice across the chest, shown in a close-up) by one of the hitmen. He punches the aggressor in the face, who bounces against the wall. His hand is in plain view and there's no weapon. Next shot, he's brandishing the knife, and drops it only a moment later. (01:17:55)

Sammo

Eastern Promises mistake picture

Continuity mistake: The Chechen brothers approach Nikolai in the sauna. Viggo Mortensen has a towel draped across his back, with an irregular profile, covering the right shoulder more than the left. After a brief cut on the hitman preparing his knife, there's a close-up of Viggo, with the towel neatly arranged and properly balanced. (01:17:45)

Sammo

Continuity mistake: In the kitchen, Semyon is decorating dessert. He orders his son to go get the brandy bottles, and he tries to deflect the order on Nikolai. When Semyon says "No, no, he stays here", there's perfect continuity in Viggo Mortensen's gesture with the cigarette - too bad that the extra in the background had already moved away from the sink in the previous shot and now she is still working on it, and moving only after a second. (01:05:15)

Sammo

Continuity mistake: Outside of the hospital, Anna finds Nikolai on her bike, waiting for her. When he sticks out his arm with the address, pay attention to the background; there's a couple walking down the pathway, and someone with a reflective vest coming from the left. Cut for a couple seconds to Naomi Watts thinking about the proposal, and the people there haven't advanced. Similarly, camera back on her, a woman is wheeled out of the door, but does not show up in the reverse shot on Mortensen, or rather, she does but only in the one that follows. (00:55:20)

Sammo

Continuity mistake: When Nikolai the driver goes to the burger joint to talk to Anna and her family, the latte in front of Anna's mother in the wider shots throughout the scene has the cocoa on top in a narrow circle. In the closer angles instead it's sprinkled more spread out, noticeably different. (00:47:40 - 00:49:30)

Sammo

Continuity mistake: After using the girl in the brothel, Nikolai puts money and an icon prayer card next to her. Between the 3 shots where you can see those items, the girl is not supposed to have moved, curled in her exhausted semi-fetal position, but you can see how the card, money and even the bracelet she is wearing all change position. (00:37:30)

Sammo

Continuity mistake: On the doorstep of the restaurant during the rainy night, a very drunk Kiril is entangled with Nikolai. He has his right arm around Nikolai's shoulder, but somehow when Anna is walking past, he's fully turned around with his left arm against Viggo Mortensen's neck. (00:24:10)

Sammo

Eastern Promises mistake picture

Continuity mistake: Viggo Mortensen is preparing to cut off the fingers of the cadaver. He flips his tie over the shoulder in the close-up, but in the following view of the room with Cassel patting his ass the tie is down his chest again. Goes back over the shoulder for more close-ups. (00:20:05)

Sammo

Eastern Promises mistake picture

Continuity mistake: During the banquet, Semyon motions to the waiter that offers to pour him champagne, to serve the guest to his right instead. The bottle was showing the label to the camera, but in the new shot it made a 180° turn, the label faces the waiter instead. Moreover, the waiter exits left but is walking right behind Semyon right a split second later in the reaction shot as Semyon looks at his son answer the phone. (00:15:10)

Sammo

Continuity mistake: In the kitchen, Semyon is telling Anna how 'sad, very sad' is that he can't remember the woman having anything to do with the restaurant. A restaurant worker with a towel in hand walks past them, and has already opened a fridge and looking into it in Naomi Watts' close-up. (00:11:05)

Sammo

Continuity mistake: During her first visit to the Trans Siberian restaurant, Semyon is walking Anna across the room. She walks along a table, and the waiters and waitresses she passes by are inconsistent between shots (for instance she walks past a woman, but in the front view there's only a man behind her). (00:09:00)

Sammo

Semyon: It's always good to have someone who I can trust, to do simple tasks. In this business, sometimes the biggest danger comes from the most stupid things.

More quotes from Eastern Promises

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