Back in the 1990s, a Russian man named Anton is distraught at
how his girlfriend abruptly left him. He’s distraught to the point where he seeks
the help of a witch, who promises to cast a spell that will resolve the matter.
But there’s a complication--his girlfriend is pregnant by her new lover, and
because of this, she won’t come back to Anton no matter what. The witch tells
Anton that she must kill the unborn baby, and he agrees. However, once the witch
starts working her magical mojo, Anton soon changes his mind about killing the
child, only now it’s too late to stop her. Thankfully for the unborn kid, the
witch is halted by a trio of investigators from the Night Watch, a supernaturally
charged organization that was created as the result of an ancient battle between
the forces of light and dark.
When the battle long ago ended in a draw, a truce was drawn up between the light
and dark, which stated that supernatural creatures like vampires, witches and so
on must behave according to strict guidelines that are enforced by the Night Watch.
The dark side as its own police agency, Day Watch, which keeps tabs on the forces
of light. Thus far, the two sides have existed in an uneasy peace--until now.
Based on the series of novels by writer Sergei Lukyanenko, Night Watch is loads
of super-charged fun. Directed with high-styled kinetic energy by Timur
Bekmambetov, it’s basically the Russian equivalent of the Matrix--and was just
as popular in its native Russia as the original Matrix was here.
It’s armed with a well-told, imaginative story that’s presented in such a
fast-paced manner that it just begs to be watched a second time. And while it
treats its supernatural threats seriously, Night Watch is still loaded with
welcome humor that keeps it from becoming too dark. The overall mood here is
about the same as the Hellboy films, both scary and funny (sometimes all at once).
The special effects are very well done--on the same level as that of the major
Hollywood special effect houses--and the film overall maintains a very high
level of professionalism, thanks to its great cast and equally good crew of
technicians.
The DVD is a flipper that gives you the options of watching the film either in
spoken English, or in its original Russian. The original Russian version is
highly recommended, because it comes with a great set of extremely creative
subtitles that are just as fun to watch as the film itself. Bekmambetov has a
commentary, which was hard for me to hear at times--but original series author
Lukyanenko has an enjoyable text commentary that the deaf and hard of hearing
can enjoy. Night Watch is a must-see for horror and dark fantasy fans, regardless
of where they’re from. It was followed by its sequel, Day Watch.
--SF
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