Review by: Angry Puppy
Posted by: Root Rot
Night Watch aka “Nochnoi Dozor” (2004)
Directed by:Timur Bekmambetov
Angry Puppy of angrypuppyfilms here. Back in 2004 a film was releasedbased on a successful Russian novel called Night Watch. I heard about it when Fox released it here in the US in a series of art house theaters. The basic premise is that there was a war between the magical forces of light and darkness until a treaty was signed. The forces that police the treaty are the Night Watch and the Day Watch (Good guys and Bad guys respectively). An agent of the Night Watch uncovers a plot to wreak havoc in Moscow.
The film was directed by Timur Bekmambetov. Not familiar with the name? Not too surprising, but a quick IMDB search reveals that he directed Wanted with Angelina Jolie and Morgan Freeman and is the director of the pre-production Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. Yes, that Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.
Konstantin Khabenskiy stars as Anton, the hero of the film. He is an agent of the Night Watch assigned to hunt down a vampire that has gone rogue. In the process he run across a woman with a curse powerful enough to kill millions. Khabenskiy has a face that communicates volumes before he speaks a word.
Galina Tyunina portrays Olga, Anton’s partner. Olga has been cursed for a long time into the form of a stuffed owl. In a painful transformation she reverts to human form for the movie. The transformation is simple yet not cheesy.
What are the rules of this universe? The magical folks call themselves “Others” and they draw power from this thing they call Twilight. No not some douche sparkling vampire but a shadowy depth to our universe. Others can drop into it and see a different world than the ordinary one that we see.
Look, it is a complicated plot and I am not doing it justice here, so on to the critique. I have had mixed luck with Art House Horror. I went to this one with the expectation that it would be horrible or at best not suck entirely.
I was delightfully surprised to find an engaging story, well acted and surrounded by effects that enhanced rather than overwhelmed the dark and moody story. Bekmambetov is a truly great director and I love the way the film looks. Pacing can be a problem sometimes, especially when dealing with dubbing and cultural differences but this film had no such problems.
This is a brilliant movie based upon an equally brilliant book. Yes, the book is better, but only because it has more story in it than the movie. Day Watch (the sequel) is also based upon the novel Night Watch. It is available at your local book stores and at Amazon. The writer is Sergey Lukyanenko. I will follow my buddy Eric’s lead and not assign a number value for this review, but instead just flat out tell you this is extremely good. Check it out. get the DVD. Read the book. Both are really great.
I am a wanna be film maker with a couple of dubious credits to my name and on Twitter as angrypuppyfilms. Let me know what you think of Night Watch.
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I agree 100% with you on the movie, though I haven’t read the book. I especially like the way the presented the “Twilight” and thought the gritty, dark style was well done as it could’ve easily dropped into cliche.
God damn I thought I approved your comment this morning sir… Anyways I totally agree with you and Ken! Great review!
Great review, I also enjoyed this film immensely though I have not seen the sequel Daywatch yet, it’s on my list of films to catch up with soon.