Night Watch 4/5 reviewed by Mike
I feel the need to give you a little bit of background to explain this movie to you: In Russia, there is a novelist named Sergey Lukyanenko. He’s kindof like Russia’s Asimov, but he’s current. He wrote a series of books, the first of which is Night Watch. They caused a gigantic sensation in Russia, and are now being made into feature films (a trilogy) that are causing an equal sensation. Compare it to LOTR or Harry Potter. This stuff is huge over there. And now it’s made it here.
Before my opinions, let me first explain the plot: There exists in the world a group of people called "Others." All others have certain characteristics, like being able to become invisible by entering a state called "The Gloom." But each other has certain unique abilities—some can see the future, some can turn into animals, some can heal, some are witches, you get the idea. They’re kindof like mutants in X-Men universe. All the others are divided into "dark others," and "light others." The dark others are straight up vampires. There has been an eternal war going on between the groups, and there is a treaty. Basically, vampires can’t eat people without permission, etc. The Night Watch and the Day Watch are police groups which enforce the rules of the truce. They skirmish with each other in modern-day Moscow. It is prophesied that a child other will one day be powerful enough to sway the balance—will the child choose dark or light?
So that’s the basic premise. Keep in mind how much I’ve been waiting for a good vampire/dark fantasy movie. This movie does not disappoint. It’s just plain awesome. First of all, the cinematography is greatness. The angles, camera movements, its all really creative and interesting to watch. Special effects are sweet. They do some really innovative stuff—the way vampires die, the way the characters have visions of the future, the powers people have—it all looks great, and feels like part of the story, not an add on. The character development is good too—you really get into the main characters heads, and even the peripheral characters seem well thought out. It’s not necessarily a character-driven story, but they do feel like real people, which is way more than you can say for most action flicks. And that’s the other thing—this movie, for all its cool special effects (and there’s plenty—cars flipping, explosions, people turning into tigers etc.) it takes its time to develop the situations and the characters. It doesn’t feel like its rushing to get to the action. The story is cool and engaging—what they do with the genre is really cool, and really inventive. These aren’t normal vampires, and it blends many fantasy elements into one cohesive whole—with a consistent tone and feel. It doesn’t feel like a Hollywood produced, genre mash-up. It takes you into a surprisingly realistic, consistent world with realistic, consistent characters. That takes skill, and this movie delivers it in spades.
So, the plots great, the characters are cool and realistic, the effects are cool, and the tone is awesome (Matrixy without being over-the-top so). But it is all in Russian, with sub-titles. If you hate sub-titles… give this a try anyway. Because even the subtitles are creative. They become part of the visual storytelling. When a character shouts, words are thrown violently across the screen—when a vampire talks about thirsting for blood, the word "hunger" fades into blood. The subtitles interact with the storytelling in ways that actually help the feel of the movie—surprisingly its not distracting, its enhancing.
I loved this film, and I can’t wait to see what happens in the next one (which has already been released in Russia, so hopefully it’ll get here soon). The only reason I don’t give it a 5 right away is because I feel I should wait until the whole thing is out. It’s possible I may give the series a 5 overall—but I’m always worried that it’s going to pull a Matrix: Revolutions on me.
See this movie if:
-you like darker fantasy stuff, like vampires
-you like smart action films
-you think foreign films are for sissies and women
Don’t see this movie if:
-Vampires, tornadoes-made-of-crows, and chicks-turning-into-Tigers frighten you
-You are so opposed to the idea of subtitles that you can’t even stand watching Jeopardy cause of the words on the screen
-Your favorite movie is “The Notebook”
-Mike
Before my opinions, let me first explain the plot: There exists in the world a group of people called "Others." All others have certain characteristics, like being able to become invisible by entering a state called "The Gloom." But each other has certain unique abilities—some can see the future, some can turn into animals, some can heal, some are witches, you get the idea. They’re kindof like mutants in X-Men universe. All the others are divided into "dark others," and "light others." The dark others are straight up vampires. There has been an eternal war going on between the groups, and there is a treaty. Basically, vampires can’t eat people without permission, etc. The Night Watch and the Day Watch are police groups which enforce the rules of the truce. They skirmish with each other in modern-day Moscow. It is prophesied that a child other will one day be powerful enough to sway the balance—will the child choose dark or light?
So that’s the basic premise. Keep in mind how much I’ve been waiting for a good vampire/dark fantasy movie. This movie does not disappoint. It’s just plain awesome. First of all, the cinematography is greatness. The angles, camera movements, its all really creative and interesting to watch. Special effects are sweet. They do some really innovative stuff—the way vampires die, the way the characters have visions of the future, the powers people have—it all looks great, and feels like part of the story, not an add on. The character development is good too—you really get into the main characters heads, and even the peripheral characters seem well thought out. It’s not necessarily a character-driven story, but they do feel like real people, which is way more than you can say for most action flicks. And that’s the other thing—this movie, for all its cool special effects (and there’s plenty—cars flipping, explosions, people turning into tigers etc.) it takes its time to develop the situations and the characters. It doesn’t feel like its rushing to get to the action. The story is cool and engaging—what they do with the genre is really cool, and really inventive. These aren’t normal vampires, and it blends many fantasy elements into one cohesive whole—with a consistent tone and feel. It doesn’t feel like a Hollywood produced, genre mash-up. It takes you into a surprisingly realistic, consistent world with realistic, consistent characters. That takes skill, and this movie delivers it in spades.
So, the plots great, the characters are cool and realistic, the effects are cool, and the tone is awesome (Matrixy without being over-the-top so). But it is all in Russian, with sub-titles. If you hate sub-titles… give this a try anyway. Because even the subtitles are creative. They become part of the visual storytelling. When a character shouts, words are thrown violently across the screen—when a vampire talks about thirsting for blood, the word "hunger" fades into blood. The subtitles interact with the storytelling in ways that actually help the feel of the movie—surprisingly its not distracting, its enhancing.
I loved this film, and I can’t wait to see what happens in the next one (which has already been released in Russia, so hopefully it’ll get here soon). The only reason I don’t give it a 5 right away is because I feel I should wait until the whole thing is out. It’s possible I may give the series a 5 overall—but I’m always worried that it’s going to pull a Matrix: Revolutions on me.
See this movie if:
-you like darker fantasy stuff, like vampires
-you like smart action films
-you think foreign films are for sissies and women
Don’t see this movie if:
-Vampires, tornadoes-made-of-crows, and chicks-turning-into-Tigers frighten you
-You are so opposed to the idea of subtitles that you can’t even stand watching Jeopardy cause of the words on the screen
-Your favorite movie is “The Notebook”
-Mike
posted by Hankinstien at 8:43 PM
1 Comments:
Spot on sir, spot on.
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