Richard reviews Night Watch (Nochnoy Dozor)

NightWatch.jpgThere’s been a lot of talk of this series from Russia, much saying that it’s the country’s epic to match Matrix and that kind of thing. Well those comments really did fall on their face for me, I mean Matrix is nothing to be compared against. What did interest me was the fact that this was the first big movie out of Russia that I’d heard of since…well since Bronenosets Potyomkin, and really that came about through history not through release.

The first thing you notice about this movie is that the production is high quality, it looks like a Hollywood movie and has plenty of editing effects to make the opening scenes look really good. The opening, in quite an amusing and twisted manner, reminds me of a pivotal scene in The Matrix. However here it takes a dark turn, and I think this is where the movie excels. There are comic and supernatural moments, but it never strays from the overall bleakness of the tale, a dark undercurrent and almost accepting fatality to the whole movie.

There are three areas I really feared for this movie, one is in the effects. I assumed that these would either be poorly executed or created simply and with sleight of camera, I was incredibly wrong. The effects are bold and challenge even the Matrix. There’s no real gimmick here, the stunts and effects are all part of the story, although one scene with the school bus does showcase what the Russian film effects can do, but there’s no real “bullet time” to speak of.

Actually I’m going to stop for a moment and apologise for making these Matrix comparisons and stop right now. The real reason for this is the fact that this is what the Matrix should have been, you can see it all the way through. There’s no huge explanations of what the characters are doing and why, there’s no sequence to the movie of explanation, fight, explanation, effects, fight, and so on. The explanations are minimal and if they are there then they are part of the story and part of the scene. They are often provided visually and you often find yourself referencing back to a moment earlier in the movie for validation, or you would find yourself questioning something only for it to be answered later on. In other words, it’s designed for more intelligent moviegoers than many of the spoon fed Hollywood scripts we see.

This is the next point, I thought the story would either go in the direction of Asian horror or towards a more Dog Soldiers type of horror. Neither is true. The story is very grounded and doesn’t tend to leap into over the top scenes of supernatural beasts. It really does try to keep the story on the level of people, however “super” they may be, and it does this superbly well. The story builds from one man and slowly pans out to the end of the world type plot, a huge and epic tale, all done with great pacing and style. I was really surprised at how good the writing was.

The final point where I thought this movie would fall down is the acting. Having never really seen many Russian movies or actors, I thought the bar couldn’t be too high. I was wrong again. The actors are very natural and seem to be quite seasoned, the lead Konstantin Khabensky is very underplayed. The character is underwhelmed and the performance is stilted and restrained for the most part, overall he’s very engaging onscreen. This kind of natural acting is throughout the movie, there was never any of the major roles that weren’t well played.

The ending of the movie is big, although there’s a huge anti-climax and you find yourself wondering what is going on with the story. The climax is fast and well written, much like the pace of the latter half of the movie and in keeping with the writing style of the whole thing. It’s well placed to end this episode and being the next.

There are some holes in the story though, and the section with the cursed woman does confuse and seems somewhat shortened. There are also some disjointed scenes which are a little confusing, decisions that seem a little too easily made, and the rocket powered bus was just a little too twee for me.

One other thing I have to mention about this (apart from the amusing Buffy appearance) are the subtitles. I know that not everyone can cope with subtitles to foreign films, although for the life of me I don’t understand why, but here there is something really clever done to the subtitles. They are treated as part of the movie, as part of the visuals, and have effects and a style all of their own but connected with the scenes they are in. Sure, you’ll see the standard subtitles, but they’ll be framed with the picture, or coloured and have effects to match the scene and mood, the vampire calling ones being the best.

Go see this movie in the cinema, it’s big and very epic, and is only the beginning. – The second and third movies are in production as we write\read – The effects are superb, and it’s just brimming with style. This is the great Russian trilogy, and it’s another Hollywood wake up call.

IMDB UK movie details
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9 thoughts on “Richard reviews Night Watch (Nochnoy Dozor)

  1. Hi, guys! Happy NY to all. On 1 January the second part of trilogy started in Russian cinemas. It’s called “Day Watch”. I’ve already seen it. The movie gives answers to all unanswered questions. The story line is quite plain. Visual effects are even better then in first part. Half of Moscow has been destroyed (ruined) in the end. “Must see”!!!

    P.S. But in the end we get everything answered and i doubt wheather there would be third movie…

  2. The version I saw was about 116 minutes long. Anyone know the lengths of cut versus uncut? Also the subtitles I saw were very traditional as far as subtitles go, nothing custom there. I’m hoping that means I was watching the uncut version?? However if I was watching the uncut version…the plot was still very confusing.

    I feel that I kept up with the movie well overall, catching some symbolism and possible double meanings of certain quotes etc. However the ending was especially too chaotic for me and I was left with just too many unanswered questions. That leaves me with less ambition to see the second movie then had I been a little less confused by the first, because I now expect the the second episode will further confuse instead of clarify.

  3. Guys, just to make it clear – the movie is based on a book of a quite famous russian sci-fi writer, Sergei Lukianenko. And he was a screen-wirter as well.

    But from my personal point of view (I’m Russian, btw :-)) – book is more interesting comparing to it’s movie adaptaion.

    I hadn’t have a chance to see foreign version of this movie (though it was shown here in Australia with a big promotion) – so can’t tell you the difference between “uncut” and US versions.

    Anaway, I reckon it would be much better to read all 3 books before watching this movie (and upcoming sequels as well) – this will give you a more clear picture. To the best of my knowledge – all 3 books already have been translated into English.

    Cheers!

    :-)

  4. Thnaks for informing me that there is an “uncut” russian version of this film out there. I must have seen the “cut” version, that is the only thing that can explain what I saw. The film I saw was OK, not good but OK. No way did it live up to any hype. The plot was so hard to follow I could not enjoy myself one bit. This also might have something to do with the “questionable subtitles” that I am hearing about. My only problem is that much of the hype for this film is from people that have obviously only seen the “cut” version and that i cant understand. The cut version was horrible and I can’t see it warranting a theatrical run in the states. However, i will attempt to get ahold of the “russian” version before i write off the film completely.

  5. Richard, you’ve seen the ‘outside of Russia’ version of the film (the fancy subtitles are a giveaway…It has been cut down significantly from the original version, especially the cursed-woman/Funnel sub-plot (a plot which looks to continue in DayWatch, the sequel).

    I recommend finding the Russian DVD and watching the longer version of the film (It won’t make much more sense, but I think they are setting up a lot of stuff for the next two films and the version you’ve seen is unlikely to properly perpare you for them due to overzealous editting…)

  6. I saw this on VCD with a questionably accurate custom subtitle track. It was enjoyable but often very confusing.

    But nothing about this movie was more surreal than the occasional yet prominent Nescafe product placement. I’m sure that was the only thing the supermarket, in one scene, sold.

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