Can't stand the sight of blood or unjust acts against the world's poor? Than Eastern Promises is not for you. This brutal tale of power, force and evil had this squeamish girl under the blankie-ears plugged, eyes closed for a good part of the movie (yes even the sounds were unbearable at times). But despite my tolerance for seemingly nothing more than rainbows and unicorns, I give this film two smiley faces and a heart because it is in fact moving, powerful and beautiful in only the way a gray London backdrop can make gory deaths seem entirely common and necessary. Think The Godfather meets Trainspotting for afternoon tea at Robin Hood's flat, where good and evil mingle in the same room and have far more in common than your typical fairytale reveals. Viggo Mortensen demonstrates this best as Nikolai Luzhin, a driver for a Russian crime family and the right hand man to Kirill (Vincent Cassel), the moody drunken son of crime boss Semyon (Armin Mueller-Stahl). Nikolai's solemn, unaffected demeanor has earned him the trust of the crime family gaining coveted duties such as dumping bodies and babysitting the out-of-control, 30-something Kirill. But no matter how hard the shell there is fragility and this of course is exposed by a beautiful woman, sigh.

Enter Naomi Watts as Anna Khitrova, a midwife searching for the family of a 14-year-old Russian girl who died while giving birth, leaving behind nothing but a diary written in a language Anna can't understand-good thing a Russian crime family is headquartered right around the corner because Anna finds a translator by knocking on the door of a traditional Russian restaurant owned by who else but Semyon-you know the leader of the pack. Semyon is kind enough to offer his translation services, so Anna rushes off to bring the crime lord the diary and on her way she smacks into Nikolai and with their meeting the movie's dynamic is a point/counterpoint if you will, of one who brings life into the world and one who takes life away. The plot twists and turns and leads you down a truly invocative, fascinating and brilliantly-acted path that will stick with you even after the 'Stop' button is pressed.

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