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In this dark apocalyptic tale of a perpetual battle between
light and dark, light being the human race and dark being
a race of monsters, this film is the first of three in a trilogy.
Russian director Timbor Bekmambetov adapts Night Watch
from the series of sci-fi novels by Sergei Lukyanenko...
Unless
you've paid no attention to the film press in the last year,
you should at least have heard of this film. It was mightily
successful on its run in homeland Russia and enjoyed equal
success around the world. It has been championed my movie
magazines and even top name directors (Quentin Tarantino).
But this still beggars the question of is it any good? I mean
it cost just over $4 million to make, has a first time director
and a completely unknown cast. Well,
here is the plot and see what you think:
Many
thousands of years ago there was a huge battle between good
and evil. The leaders of the two armies soon discovered that
they were a pretty even match, so they decided to call a truce.
There were, of course, conditions to this truce and one of
these was that each side would use agents to keep an eye on
the opposing side. The good side have the night watch. They
prowl the streets at night, keeping an eye out for any trouble
from the bad side. And for the flip side, we have the day
watch. These are agents of evil who keep an eye on the good
guys to make sure they don't step out of line.
The
whole film is very rich and deep and has a sort of "blink
and you will miss it" thing going on. It has a certain vibe
about it that makes it a vampire film but not a regular one
though. This is one crazy film and a few sittings may be needed
to take it all in. But the best thing is, is that you won't
mind watching it more than once. It is that good. Saying that,
the fight at the beginning looks a bit ropey and some of the
CGI could of been a bit better, but for $4 million, this is
a masterpiece. It
has everything that you could want in a movie of this genre:
nasty agents of evil, clever plot, a protagonist who makes
you laugh (although, I'm not sure he is supposed to) and action.
I
can't imagine who wouldn't want to watch this film.
In
this two-disc DVD release you have the option of watching
a dubbed version or a subtitled version. So for all those
people who either struggle with subtitles or are just too
lazy to read them then you can watch an ok dubbed version.
I'd suggest watching the subtitled version though, as the
subtitles actually become part of the film - they flow around
the screen and change colour and shape. It might sound distracting,
but it works and makes the film that much more interesting.
Special
features include an audio commentary with the director; deleted
scenes; Making of featurette; poster gallery and a
preview of the trilogy.
All
in all this is a pretty good package. Just to let you know
however, the sequel (Day Watch) will be hitting our
shores soon. It did a storming trade at the Russian box office
and I highly recommend you go see it when it gets a cinema
release. Or, if you have a multi-region DVD player then you
can import the DVD from Russia. But, in the meantime go and
buy, or at least rent, Night Watch. I can pretty much
say that you won't have seen anything quite like it.
 
Simon
Lee
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