Night Watch
by Timur Bekmambetov
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DVD details
Actor: Galina Tyunina, Konstantin Khabenskiy, Mariya Poroshina, Valeriy Zolotukhin, Vladimir MenshovDirector: Timur Bekmambetov
Brand: KHABENSKY,KONSTANTI
Writer: Timur Bekmambetov
Producer: Aleksei Kublitsky
Producer: Aleksei Kulibin
Producer: Anatoly Maximov
Producer: Arthur Gorson
Writer: Laeta Kalogridis
Writer: Sergey Lukyanenko
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; Russian (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 5.1; French (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.1; Spanish (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.1
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 114 minutes
Published: 2006-06-01
DVD Release Date: 2006-06-20
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: 20th Century Fox
DVD Reviews of Night Watch
DVD Review: Confusing to watch - lost in translation maybe?
Summary: 3 Stars
Foreign films are not easy to review. The biggest problem is usually in the translation.
Have you ever tired to watch a poorly dubbed or translated Chinese martial arts film? They tend to be hilarious due to the translation from Chinese to English. Usually this happens when it's translated in Hong Kong or China.
Another problem with reviewing a foreign film is that quite often cultural references and other minor nuances are lost on the viewer.
Consider this. Over the years I've watched quite a few Filipino and Hindi Movies. For me, most of the Filipino movies I've watched were pretty straightforward and easy to understand, although quite often there were obvious differences between our culture and theirs.
Hindi movies on the other hand - well, most of the time when I watched one I was left sitting there scratching my head in confusion. Humour, unless it was slapstick or obvious, was completely lost on me.
The other night I watched a movie called Nightwatch. It's based on the first book of a modern day Russian fantasy / horror trilogy that was a major hit over in the former Soviet Union country.
It was so successful in fact that they made movies of the first two books in the trilogy.
Now, being a fan of this type of genre (not a huge fan, but a fan none the less), I decided to give the two movies that have been made a shot. I bought both of them and they've been sitting on my shelf for several weeks, waiting for the opportune moment for me to sit down and give them a view.
After I finished watching the movie, I was left scratching my head. I was able to follow, for the most part, what was going on in it, but I'm pretty sure that I missed a great deal due to the cultural differences between Canada and Russia.
The story, from what I could gather, is that for centuries the balance between good and evil has been carefully maintained. There are essentially two organizations, the Nightwatch (good) and the Daywatch (evil). They are, in effect, the police force for good and evil, and they monitor one another constantly.
The world is filled with what they call `others'. These others (not the Lost type, mind you), are Vampires, magic wielders, shape shifters, and other creatures of mythology.
Legend has it that there will be an other born who will tip the scales for either good or evil, but this other will have to choose which side he or she will join. It's supposed to lead to Armageddon.
The movie begins with a young man going to a witch to get back the woman he loves, and to kill the unborn child she's carrying in her womb. The ceremony is interrupted by the Nightwatch, and much to everyone's surprise, he can see them.
Fast forward twelve years and he's now part of the Nightwatch.
Now, this is where the movie gets confusing. Is he a vampire? I honestly don't know. But he's sent out to track down a child who is one of the others in order to prevent him from falling into the hands of vampires.
Things go south real fast, and he kills one of the Vampires. From the way I understand it, there is no killing between the two factions. If there is, it's treated like a crime and those responsible are punished.
Anyhow, it just keeps getting stranger and stranger, and the plot revolves for some reason around this child, and a cursed woman who has to have the curse removed or the world will be destroyed.
Honestly, I couldn't figure out what was going on, and I was still pretty confused when the movie ended, but I'm pretty sure that they were able to resolve things and they prevented the destruction of the world.
At least for the time being.
Now, the acting was, I guess, ok. Hey, they were all Russian actors and thus completely unknown to me. The movie itself was set in Moscow, and man, I thought we had some ugly cities, but the movie was shot mainly in run-down neighbourhoods, so I'll have to assume that it was done on purpose.
The special effects were pretty good, nothing absolutely spectacular. Plenty of use of computer graphics anyhow. Although the whole bit with the crows and the vortex over the apartment complex was pretty neat.
I have to say that I didn't really care for the movie now that I've had some time to digest it and think about it. The main reason is that it was so difficult to understand.
Normally I pick up on fantasy and science fiction easily, but in this case, it was over my head.
And, as the beginning of my review stated, I'm pretty sure it had to do with the cultural barrier that I faced sitting down to watch it.
Will I watch the sequel, Daywatch? Yeah, I am going to. I know it's a longer movie, but the fact is that I paid for it, and I don't like to throw money away.
Finally, the lack of bonus material was disconcerting. There was an extended roof top scene (near the end of the movie) and that was it.
2.5 out of 5
Description of Night Watch
Among normal humans live the "Others" possessing various supernatural powers. They are divided up into the forces of light and the forces of the dark, who signed a truce several centuries ago to end a devastating battle. Ever since, the forces of light govern the day while the night belongs to their dark opponents. In modern day, the dark Others actually roam the night as vampires while a "Night Watch" of light forces, among them Anton, try to control them and limit their outrage.Night Watch is that rare film that--like The Matrix--is not only visually dazzling but creates an intriguing, seductive, and thrilling alternative world. A young man named Anton, after dabbling in black magic to bring back the wife who left him, discovers that the world is populated by fantastical Others (vampires, shape-shifters, witches, and more) who have chosen sides--Light or Dark--in an epic battle. A truce has been declared; both sides watch the other to ensure the truce is maintained. But a prophecy has predicted that a powerful Other will tilt the balance, and Anton--who is himself an Other--finds himself crucial to the prophecy's fulfillment. There's no question that Night Watch has weaknesses. Numerous plot holes get glossed over by pell-mell pacing, the visual conception of the apocalyptic battle between Light and Dark is curiously pedestrian (a bunch of knights fighting a bunch of guys in fur with swords--what happened to their various powers?), and more--but, much like similar problems with The Matrix, it doesn't matter.
The alternative world Night Watch presents is so rich with possibilities that it takes on a life of its own, both as an imaginative universe and as a vivid metaphor for the moral complexities of our own lives--for example, though the forces of Light claim to be good, their often brutal actions call their virtue into question, and the forces of Dark make some compelling moral arguments on the topic. The movie is so overstuffed with ideas that many don't get fleshed out, but that only contributes to the sense of vitality and unexplored dimensions. Even the subtitles are used creatively. The impending sequels (this is the first film of a trilogy) may--like The Matrix--take all the stimulating possibilities Night Watch raises and drag them into the toilet, but for the moment, this is the sort of electric excitement that blockbuster movies promise but so rarely deliver. --Bret Fetzer
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