Eastern Promises - 4

Director David Cronenberg won me over with his films Dead Ringers and The History of Violence, both complex and well done films. Unfortunately, Eastern Promises is a film unworthy of these past works. The story is about a diary found by Anna (Naomi Watts), when a woman dies giving birth to a daughter. The diary is in Russian and when she approaches a Russian business man to translate it, Anna finds that the information is incriminating and she is now involved with a London crime family. It is the mysterious Nikolai (Viggo Mortensen) that draws most of Anna's attention, and they work together to do as much good as they can, considering the circumstances. The plot takes time to develop and then ends too quickly.
This film is noteworthy for all the wrong reasons. It features gratuitous sex and violence that does very little to advance the plot. It had potential, but I felt cheated as I walked out of the film. The ending came to early- I was waiting for the next reel to be put on. Instead the credits rolled.