Eastern Promises  Eastern Promises Reviewed by Dan Goldwasser (
Published on December 5th, 2007  [Rating - 2.5] When a 14-year
old girl dies giving birth, the midwife Anna (Naomi Watts)
discovers her diary, written in Russian. Seeking to have it
translated, she takes it to a Russian restaurant where she meets
Semyon (Armin Mueller-Stahl), who agrees to translate it for
her. Little does she know that Semyon is actually the leader of
one of London's most notorious Russian crime families, and the
diary is directly tied to his organization. His son Kirill
(Vincent Cassel) is trying to move up in the ranks with the help
of Nikolai (Viggo Mortensen), and a power play is brewing - and
Anna just stumbled into the middle of it, putting her life - and
those of her family - in danger. Such is the plot of David
Cronenberg's latest film, Eastern Promises.  Cronenberg's films
are known to be rather violent, and this film is no exception.
Nikolai is a mysterious yet brutal character who keeps crossing
paths with Anna, who w