Viggo Mortensen and director David Cronenberg are fast becoming the Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro of the film world…okay, maybe I’m exaggerating a bit but the fact remains that Mortensen and Cronenberg have two very successful and critically acclaimed movies under their belts.

The first being the Academy Award nominated “A History Of Violence” and the second being their newest effort “Eastern Promises.”

“Eastern Promises” much like “A History Of Violence” is not for the weak of heart. It’s a very dark, very gritty, very violent movie with a gruesome murder happening within the first fifteen minutes.

Although never cartoon like in its approach to executing said violence “Eastern Promises” may sometimes be a tad much for viewers. So, if your not fond of seeing gruesome amounts of very realistic violence then I suggest you skip this move and wait for the next Viggo or Cronenberg flick.

Now, for those of us who have no problem seeing such violence occur on such a grand scale “Eastern Promises” is a superb movie.

I know the phrase “Oscar Worthy” gets tossed around a lot but this movie really lives up to the description. Set in present day Russia the story revolves around the death of a 14 year old prostitute named Tatiana who dies while giving birth.

Anna Khitrova, played perfectly by Naomi Watts, a mid-wife at a London hospital finds the diary of Tatiana after first helping save Tatiana’s baby daughter.

In the dairy she finds a card for a Trans-Siberian restaurant, which is owned by Semyon, played by Armin Mueller-Stahl, who she doesn’t know is a Russian mob boss.

Anna (Naomi Watts) then meets Nikolai Luzhin, played by Mortensen, a driver and “cleaner” for Semyon and his son Krill, played by Vincent Cassel,. Now, I don’t want to give away the whole plot because it would ruin the movie. I will say however that there is a twist in the movie that you may or may not see coming. It was refreshing to see such an original plot that involved mobs.

We usually see these really outlandish versions of mobs portrayed in movies, no where close to the real thing. “Eastern Promises” paints a realistic portrayal of its characters an that really helps, If it where any other way the movie wouldn’t have worked.

Another big part of this films success is its talent. All of the aforementioned actors play their parts excellently. As with most of Cronenbergs’ films no one actor overshadows another. Viggo shines in this film this is true, but so do everyone else and that’s why it works. This film is all about the acting, there are no weak device plots to move the story along in an way. Yes the violence very vivid, but not every scene has violence in it like many of Hollywood’s recent releases .

In fact, there are only three real violent scenes in the whole movie. Instead of having every scene have a shootout or some half drawn chase scene the violence is used as mood setter. It hangs in the air and gives the movie an intense feeling throughout the screening. Every scene has the potential to break out, and again this is kept up by the fine acting.

Again, if you’re a little queasy about seeing realistic then I suggest you skip out on this one, but if your like me and can appreciate a movie that is both realistic and riveting then I suggest you go out and see this movie before its run in theaters ends. Most movies like this don’t hang around for long.