Anna Khitrova (Naomi Watts) is brought in to help deliver a baby girl from a street prostitute who collapsed at a nearby pharmacy.

The woman dies in childbirth, but the baby lives.

Having lost her own child to a miscarriage, Anna becomes obsessed with finding the relatives of the baby girl before the child is put into the foster system. The only clues available to Anna are the mother’s diary – written in Russian – and a small business card from a local Russian restaurant.

But all is not what it seems. The backstreets are overrun by a feudal war erupting between two opposing Russian gangs. One faction is led by the enigmatic Semyon (Armin Mueller-Stahl) and his psychotic son, Kirill (Vincent Cassel), who mask their violent business behind the gentle walls of the very same restaurant Anna goes to for answers.

Her seemingly futile journey brings her into contact with the restaurant’s mysterious and charismatic Russian driver Nikolai Luzhin (Viggo Mortensen), who is letting on more than he appears to be. Anna falls deeper into the feudal war and her life, her family’s life and even the child are put in danger as the war reaches its violent climax.

This is director David Cronenberg’s follow-up to his masterpiece “A History of Violence,” and it is another violent, psychological exploration of human nature.

While the setting has since changed, the misery is still present.

In the gloomy city of London, we find compassion in the strangest places, but it’s clouded by the worst kind of wickedness. The brutal heart of the mafia sets up the film, but it’s the surprising gentleness and love the characters share that makes this film whole. These people are despicable in their actions, but so human you cannot fail but care for them.

This is a film where the actors dominate. Mortensen is magnificent as the complex and vicious Nikolai, a brick house of violence who exudes coldness – he stubs out a cigarette on his tongue because each moment of pain makes him stronger. His thick Russian accent and the tattoos adorning his ripped body make Nikolai you do not want to meet on a dark night.

Yet it is in Nikolai that we discover the heart of this film via his relationship with Anna. It’s not sexual, nor is it love between them; it’s a connection shared between two individuals who are alone, lost and in need of each other.

All the characters come off as incredibly ordinary and utterly average – even the high-profile Anna. The mundane spirit is a great strength for the actors as it makes them more real and, therefore, more terrifying.

Much like “A History of Violence,” this is not a gore-fest, but when there is violence, it is not contained.

Some audience members may find it distasteful and occasionally gratuitous (once you’ve seen one throat cut, do you really need to see another?) while others may find it frustrating waiting for the real story to get underway.

While the characters and their conflicts are known, what is unknown is when the conflicts and collisions with other characters will phase out, and that remains the real mystery – possibly for too long.

I do not wish to constantly compare this to “A History of Violence,” but at least that story begins right off the bat. In “Eastern Promises” we wait half-an-hour to get anywhere, and the ending leaves us wanting more.

Best scene: In the bathhouse, a naked Viggo Mortensen is lynched by two fully clothed mobsters out for revenge. There is something utterly vulnerable about this moment – being attacked when he are at his most helpless. Credit goes to the actor for committing to the nudity, and still keeping up his tough-guy persona.

Overall: A magnificent British gangster film, coated in the depressing and grim English weather. The fog and rain only add to the feeling of helplessness in a movie devoid of color. A hauntingly violent and beautifully touching movie, dominated by Cronenberg’s bitter atmosphere that he perfected in “A History of Violence.” A powerhouse character movie that’s well worth your time.