Night Watch (Nochnoi Dozor) (2004)

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 Moscow the dark Others actually roam the night as vampires while a “Night Watch” of light forces, among them Anton, the movie’s protagonist, try to control them and limit their outrage.

Directed by Timur Bekmambetov

This is the movie my husband and I saw this weekend and we were very impressed by it. According to one review at IMDB, if you’re a fan of such comic book fare as Hellboy, The Crow and others, this movie will be a waste of time to you. I can only say, I’m glad that I wasn’t unduly influenced by these others because for me, Night Watch was a fantastic movie. I loved the story. I particularly enjoyed the very subtle twist in which the good guys really aren’t all that perfect.

I really enjoyed the gritty cinematography and the acting. I felt this was a film that could easily have fallen into the grotesque seen in such films as Saw and Hostel, but it didn’t. It conveyed horror without drenching the viewer in it.

There are subtitles in this film but they were incorporated very neatly into the film and in some scenes actually became part of the film. I thought that was a brilliant move.

If this movie is at your theatre, Netflix, or your local movie rental place, go and check it out.

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 4th, 2006 at 8:50 pm and is filed under reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.