3. Anna Khitrova - Eastern Promises
Ok, now this one's probably slightly controversial, because Eastern Promises is a good film. Hell, Eastern Promises is a great film, and most of the credit can be laid at the door of the writers, the director David Cronenberg and Viggo Mortensen, who put on a great show as a Russian 'driver'/government agent. Yet wierdly, he isn't acutally the main character that's Watts, playing a midwife who finds herself dragged into London's seedy mob underbelly while trying to unravel the mystery of a teenage girl's diary after she comes to the ward, gives birth and dies. Some people might disagree with me, but I think that Watts is overshadowed throughout the film by Mortensen, who gets all the good bits and a naked brawl in a bath house to boot. Watts' character is the audience's cipher, their way into this horrifying and interesting world of quasi-brothels in semi-detached houses and horrible deeds planned in Russian restaurants. Anna's quest is what drives the plot, but really, it's a door by which Cronenberg can study these Russian criminals. Hell, the whole thing even manages to take a back seat to Mortensen's climb up the mob's greasy pole halfway through, and her plotline is enveloped into Mortensen's far grander one. Really, I guess it's not her fault. She's serviceable in the part, as befitting her status as the audience's cipher, but that's all she is. Frankly, I would've loved to have seen her have a bit more to chew on, as she's absolutely awesome when given something to do. Remember that scene where she and Mortensen convince Vincent Cassel (reliably awesome, as always) not to drown the baby? I'd loved to have seen a bit more of that, but I guess you can't always get what you want.