Director David Cronenberg and Viggo Mortensen come together again in “Eastern Promises,” after the successful and dark “A History of Violence.” The combination of the two seems to produce some of the most vivid, methodic and violent dramas. “Eastern Promises” falls right in line with its exceptional brutality, unabashed story telling, and Mortensen’s enveloping persona, delivering a character of such believable and fitting proportions that it’s hard to ever imagine him not having a Russian accent. If that weren’t enough, “Eastern” delivers two of the most superb crime drama scenes in years, which are sure to obtain classic status.

Two opening deaths – one of particular jugular gruesomeness – set in motion the film’s two plot lines. The first pertains to the underground Russian mob in London and a murder that is carried out in deceitful fashion, which ruffles the feathers of important associates; the other involves a 14 year-old girl who dies during childbirth, leaving behind an infant and diary, both seemingly diminutive, but of extreme consequence. The diary tells of the girl’s abusive past at the hands of the vory v zakone, a Russian crime family, which, of course, sets these two plot lines on a collision course.

Mortensen plays Nikolai, a chauffer of perplexing confidence and talent that works for Kirill (Vincent Cassel of “Derailed”), who in turn works for his father Semyon (Armin Mueller-Stahl), head of the vory v zakone. With steel cheeks, pursed lips and a set of Terminator-esque shades, Mortensen is convincingly an unemotional statue-like mobster. Kirill, on the other hand, is an alcoholic (even for a Russian gangster) who rides on his criminal birthright, naturally causing a raucous and disappointing his father.

Plots collide when Anna (Naomi Watts) – the midwife that delivered the infant and witnessed the girl’s passing – finds her way to Semyon’s restaurant, by way of a card left in the dead girl’s diary. Like a dirty uncle, Semyon entertains Anna’s questions, but with sly looks and touches that tell you he has far more menacing motives than just helping Anna find the next of kin. Since the diary is written in a Russian dialect, Anna welcomes Semyon’s assistance in translating.

Watts, however, is about the worst aspect of the film. While certainly having utility, her character is acted in the same boring, putty-like style as many of her previous roles – lumpy, uninteresting and with little depth or detail. She is only worthwhile when prodding Viggo’s character to manifest human emotions.

Naturally, then, the two scenes that help make “Eastern” truly stellar are centered on Nikolai and his dealings with the Russian mob. The first, in “Godfather” fashion, is a riveting ceremonial scene where Viggo (in only his black box-cut briefs) faces five suited men, presumably of significant mob importance. By renouncing his mother and father, and proclaiming himself dead and only loyal to the vory y zakone, Nikolai receives his “stars” – ornate icons tattooed on his chest and knees. These markings complement a collection of biographical prison tattoos depicting his story and status through his life of Russian crime.

The other big scene is simply astonishing, and surely to be the most talked about moment of the film. While the particulars are left to be witnessed first-hand, this simple description should give one an idea of the force of this scene: Viggo fights bad guys in a Russian bathhouse, bare-ass naked. There are no modest camera shots, making Viggo seem like he has more, err, balls than his character of Aragon in “Lord of the Rings.” It’s truly a stunning fight sequence, powerful in its immodesty.

“Eastern Promises” is a first-rate mob movie that is as much a cultural excursion as it is calculating and brutal. Mortensen is brilliant and overshadows any shortcoming of the film, creating a character with such dexterity and completeness that it rivals James Gandolfini’s Tony Soprano.