Night Watch

[BTM]

Wow, I'm surprised NO ONE has mentioned this movie (hey, even did a search this time.)  It was one of the highest grossing films over in Russia, and was imported here awhile back.

Okay, basically, it's like this: in the movie there are people with abilities and powers, witches, shape-shifters, vampire type creatures, you name it.  There's currently a truce between the light and the dark side.  There's also a prophecy about a young boy who's could tip the balance between the two forces depending on which side he chooses.

The film is pretty, lots of neat visual images and stuff, one really memorable scene takes place early in the movie where the forces of dark and light battling on a bridge and suddenly the battle just STOPS, and the leaders of each respective side walk through the frozen chaos to speak to each other int he bridge's center.

Another neat thing about the first movie, I'm told (I didn't see this, as, shame on me, I watched the dubbed version) that the subtitles don't just appear like in normal films, they change color, drift in, dissipate like smoke, all depending on who's speaking and the context of the scene.  Sounds pretty cool...

On the downside of things though, it DOES seem like a lot of material was truncated in the film version (the movie is based on a series of books which I have read yet.)  I didn't care much for the ending, as it was a bit too opened (but, again, considering the movie is the first in a trilogy, I suppose that's to be expected.)

IF you haven't seen it, I HIGHLY recommend you watching it, especially with the sequel Day Watch (which looks even wilder than the first one) coming out soon on DVD.  Among other things there's a scene in the trailer of Day Watch with a woman driving a car on the SIDE of a building.

If interested, you can check out the site for the first film here: http://www.foxsearchlight.com/nwnd/

And the Day Watch site here http://www.foxsearchlight.com/daywatch/

[Jim H]

Terrible film.  Bad pacing, bad editing, obnoxious camera usage, bad action scenes....  And mostly, just plain boring.  Too bad, because I really like the concept.

[Neville]

Hated it too. It has a few cool scenes, like the main character escaping from the vampire with a mirror, but the style was really overkill, and it became tiresome after the first 20 minutes or so.

[Gerry]

Personally I loved it.  I got the R5 DVD a year or so before the movie was even released in the U.S. and reviewed it for my site:

http://www.scifilm.org/reviews3/nightwatch.html

The sequel DAY WATCH is even better IMO...more emphasis on the fantasy aspects and less on the horror.

[daveblackeye15]

I really like it too. A good movie for a cold rainy night. I like the books more and I can't wait to get around to viewing Day Watch.

[Mofo Rising]

I'm also a fan of this film.  I loved the style of the movie; it was a lot of fun to look at.

The main problem with the movie is that it is all over the place.  That may be due to truncation from the novel, but it lacks consistency between all its parts.  That's a minor complaint for me, though.

I also thought the dubbing in the movie was particularly well done.  Serviceable enough that when a particular line of atrocious dubbing popped up I was surprised rather than dismayed.

I wanted to see Day Watch in the theaters, but I think it only played on one screen in Phoenix, so I'll have to wait until DVD.

[Gerry]

Part of the problem may be the "International Cut" that was released here in the states -- quite a lot of editing was done to dumb it down.  The original Russian film is much more coherent IMO than the one available on R1 DVD.

[Yaddo 42]

I'm fairly sure there was a topic on it, I vaguely remember being part of a discussion of it here.

I liked the film a lot as a genre film from outside the usually realm of films I get to see. It has its weaknesses, but I also excused them as reediting for outside markets, the film being part of a planned trilogy, or stylic choices using templates of Russian popular storytelling I'm not familiar with. I've seen that in films from China or Japan. Things they take for granted in stories are vague or unknown to audiences in other areas.

The visuals were good, probably better than the story, but I was more than willing to go with it. At the video store on the way home tonight, I was actually tempted to pick up a used copy for sale, I did stash it so I could come back later, not sure it's in much danger of being bought up in my neck of the woods.

I'd like to see the next film, and had thought about picking up the first book, but I'm way too backlogged on books at this time

[Jim H]

I'm also a fan of this film.  I loved the style of the movie; it was a lot of fun to look at.

The main problem with the movie is that it is all over the place.  That may be due to truncation from the novel, but it lacks consistency between all its parts.  That's a minor complaint for me, though.

I also thought the dubbing in the movie was particularly well done.  Serviceable enough that when a particular line of atrocious dubbing popped up I was surprised rather than dismayed.

I wanted to see Day Watch in the theaters, but I think it only played on one screen in Phoenix, so I'll have to wait until DVD.

Ah, you should have watched it in Russian.  Russian is the perfect language for a violent movie, at least it seems like it to me.