Eastern Promises
The acting is excellent (really), the violence is efficient and matter-of-fact, the mood is of a sufficiently moody variety, and all the Russian gimcracks and gewgaws serve to distance this from most other mob flicks. If there is a fault, it's that all of its good qualities suggest more than it ends up delivering. The story turns out to be surprisingly slight and it all works itself out with relatively little hassle, all things considered. Its a good movie with plenty of damn fine elements, but I left feeling slightly underwhelmed.