The opening sequence of “Eastern Promises” works as a rabbit-hole of grisly, unhampered foreshadowing. It is a warning label, consisting of a Sweeney Todd-like throat slashing and a young, pregnant woman’s collapse into a pool of her own blood, informing us we are about to enter the bleakest and grimmest of worlds.

It is a great relief that the other hour and thirty-eight minutes of David Cronenberg’s (“A History of Violence”) latest tale of moral ambiguity masquerading (quite ably) as crime drama is just as manic and engaging. The script for “Eastern Promises” comes by way of Steven Knight, author of “Dirty Pretty Things,” a movie sharing a similarly bleak and secretive tone, and unfolds at a perfect pace, revealing plot intricacies at exactly the right moment.

Set in London, the story follows Anna (Naomi Watts), the nurse who helps deliver the collapsed woman’s baby. The mother dies, and Anna is left with her diary and a desperate concern for her baby. In her attempts to get the diary translated, Anna becomes entangled in an underground world which begins in an upscale, Russian restaurant.

The twist? The proprietor, Semyon Zakone (Armin Mueller-Stahl), is head of the Vory mafia. Other members of this Russian “family” include his less-than-impressive son, Kirill (Vincent Cassell), and the driver and bodyguard, Nikolai (Viggo Mortensen). In fact, Anna herself is a second-generation immigrant whose father was Russian.

The unfurling of the plot is set into motion when Anna finds out, through her uncle’s translation, that this dead girl was somehow connected to the family she can no longer seem to get away from. Now, both her life and that of the infant are in danger.

Even more pertinent is the unraveling of Mortensen’s character, Nikolai, whom Anna develops an unusual bond with. Though at first Nikolai appears to be made up of nothing but loyalty and menace, we soon begin to wonder what capacity this man has for goodness. It is his relationship with Kirill more than Anna, however, which evidences his ability for compassion in a world devoid of such a characteristic.

“Eastern Promises” is both more and less than a story. Rather, it is a snapshot of a hidden world, framed inside a 100-minute film. The characters are completely authentic, revealing themselves without background or superfluous mafia clichés, through cause and effect, action and consequence.

Viggo Mortensen delivers perhaps his best performance to date as a stone-cold killer rife with ambiguity. His is such a subtle and nuanced performance it is hard to find a single movement or word that is wasted. On top of that, he anchors one of the best fight sequences put to film in years, one certain to be remembered years from now.
While Mueller-Stahl and Watts are also competent in their roles, Vincent Cassell, an actor usually too over the top for me, delivers in a strangely sympathetic and touching performance of vulnerability. His scenes with Mortensen, again, are some of the best in the film.

In the end, “Eastern Promises” is much more than it appears at first consideration. Whereas last year’s Oscar-winning mafia film, “The Departed,” delivered on a more visceral level and is an overall better film, “Eastern Promises” transcends cheap thrills to create a much more ethereal and meditative look at the life of crime and, more specifically, what motivates those caught up in that wicked web.

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