*I figure that reviewing a Russian movie for this site is appropriate since Russia is Asia to some extent, right? With that said, I shall carry on.

At last I’ve seen the Russian Thriller, Night Watch (2004). I’ve been waiting quite some time after seeing the trailer in theaters ages ago. It was worth waiting for though. Before you dismiss me for seemingly liking everything I see, let me explain and add that I don’t like many films, but those don’t often warrant enough enthusiasm to write about.

Night Watch is a Russian film by Timur Bekmambetov that has a seemingly epic story. This is the first film in a planned trilogy as well. The film tells of the forces of Light and Darkness. After a medieval battle both sides formed a truce. Now, in the modern day, in Moscow, live the Night Watch as well as the Day Watch. Theses Watches are made up of “Others”, humans with special abilities. Our hero, Anton (Konstantin Khabensky) is a member of the Night Watch, the organization set up by the Light forces to keep an eye on the Darkness so that they will not break the truce. But a third, more powerful force, a young and powerul “Other”, and the plans of the leader of Darkness, Zavulon (Viktor Verzhbitsky) threaten the truce and the well-being of the world.

Night Watch appealed to me before I even knew the plot. The story just added to my fascination. Initially, I was turned on to the film by the special effects. Certain little things add to the movie to make a strong visual film. Glowing eyes, flipping trucks, the girl walking on the highway, abduction by a vampire, and more are all note worthy. It is hard to explain though. Watching the movie is about the only way to understand the eccentricity of the effects.

Many of the other effects involve playing with time (not in the silly “Matrix” way though) and montage (a staple of Russian cinema). There are often gaps in time from shot-to-shot. There isn’t always a cause and effect relationship in many cuts, unlike the Hollywood standard. This works well though since there doesn’t need to be this sort of cutting to shots. The film is very actionous and fast moving, as are the shots and transitions. This brings us to the montage in the film. It’s not just typical montage, the montage is used to quickly show action without having the viewer focus in on the intense violence or a character’s transformation, for example. The fraction of a second shots make the film even faster.

Some weaknesses include some diversions from the story and its action. Specifically the scenes where an airplane is about to crash and the power plant blows up. These tie into the plot to some extent, but partially seem unneccasary.

Night Watch is right up there as far as a thriller, gothic, action-adventure film goes. I’m surely glad to know that we still have two movies left to see from the series. I can’t wait to see the second installment too. Hopefully it won’t take so long to get to America this time.

If you want an epic action movie, with cool effects, a great story and without all the Hollywood cliches, I recommend this. It really puts a unique spin on the Apocalyptic good vs. evil film. If this movie was an American film or in English, I’m sure it’d be a huge hit. It’s only really in indie theaters now, but if you can, check it out.

8/10