On Dave's recommendation, for Viggo Mortensen, who is indeed quite solid playing a Russian gangster in London. Cronenberg loves his graphic violence, and by clearly intending to turn stomachs and not titillate I guess he escapes accusations of promoting such. The settings and some of the plot echo The Godfather and other Cronenbergs. Naomi Watts is all wide-eyed righteousness on a Ural boxer motorcycle. (A cursory bit of googling suggests that these typically have sidecars, which hers does not, and are clones of early BMW designs.) Armin Mueller-Stahl nails the cool-eyed urban mobster.
A. O. Scott makes it sound like more of a chore than it is. Dana Stevens.