"A History of Violence: Chapter II"

Turns out director David Cronenberg was just warming up with his nasty 2005 drama "A History of Violence." His new film, "Eastern Promises," delivers a gritty mob drama set in London, but it's the moments of unabashed violence that will linger with viewers. The film follows a British midwife (Naomi Watts in an underwritten role) who entangles herself in a mob squabble between a rising gangster (Viggo Mortensen) and an entrenched Russian kingpin (Armin Mueller-Stahl). Cronenberg's film is alternately crisp and flaccid, but the peek into the mob subculture fascinates, as does Mortensen's sharp Russian accent. But audiences may never forget a battle royale between Mortensen's character and two would-be assassins staged in a Turkish bath house.