Nochnoy dozor
aka Night Watch
I’d seen the trailer for Night Watch a while back and was wondering when it was going to come out. When I first watched the trailer, I didn’t know it was a Russian film. Not that I have any problem with that, I just overlooked the fact. Also I can’t seem to find out when it is supposed to come out to theaters here in the US. Neither the Apple trailer site here, nor the official site seem to have an actual release date. That’s quite annoying! Through the wonders of the web, (read as Ebay) I got my hands on this movie. It has been out in Russia since last year. The DVD I got is the movie in Russian with English subtitles.
I told you that story to tell you this one… 
Let me say this first, I liked this movie. But it is one of those movies where the trailer seems to promise more than the film actually delivers. It looks like they took a page right out of Hollywood’s book on that score. Night Watch is a story of good versus evil, where two factions the Light Watch and the Night Watch keep a balance between the two. The forces of evil are represented by mainly witches and vampires, the forces of good have good wizards and shapeshifters. On both sides these paranormal humans are referred to as Others. A la Underworld and Blade these Others walk among the rest of humanity and no one notices. The story is centered around Anton who “works” for the Night Watch (those of the Light side that keep the dark in check). I don’t want to give away too much of the story. The story is good, a little confusing in parts, but good nonetheless.
To be honest, when I found out it was Russian, I thought that the quality might be a little less than what Hollywood churns out. Thankfully I was wrong on that part. Night Watch has the quality of any movie coming out of Hollywood, actually better than some of those. The special effects are done very well and are reminiscent of The Matrix and The Ring. Now that I think about it, it seems like this might be the horror/fantasy equivalent of The Matrix. Night Watch is supposed to be the first part in a trilogy, I just hope the next two movies are as good as this one and don’t follow The Matrix down the bad sequel path.
When it comes out near you, I’d recommend Night Watch, but maybe as a matinee.
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