Night Watch
Hundreds of years ago, the forces of light and dark faced each other on a bridge for a final battle that would come to determine the fate of all humanity. But both sides were so evenly matched that as axes were being swung and swords were being thrust, the two opposing leaders stopped time and called a truce. This is how Russian horror-fantasy Night Watch begins – an appealingly familiar premise that allows for a slickly executed, FX-laden introduction. But despite credible attempts to visually detract from the heard-and-seen-it-all-before narrative, the film – a monster hit on home soil - seems to flounder in its own soullessness.
Set in a slickly grubby modern day Moscow, Night Watch (or Nochnoy Dozor to give it its Russian title) details with all manner of aesthetic flourishes, how the truce between good and evil is wearing away. That truce stated that any ‘Others’ born unto the world – those marked out by supernatural power or ability (witches, seers, shapeshifters, vampires) – would be left to chose freely between whether they would join the forces of light or darkness, and that neither side should set out to kill an opposing ‘Other’ or an innocent human. Night Watch, the first in a trilogy, largely follows one ‘Other’ as he joins the ‘Night Watch’ – a force of light ensuring the dark side adhere to the truce – who finds himself at the centre of a chain of events that threaten to reinstate the apocalyptic Final Battle that began hundreds of years before.
Perhaps the most surprising thing about Night Watch is the fact that it was filmed for a mere $4million. Writer/Director Timur Bekmambetov shoehorns in the special effects – a van somersaulting over an ‘Others’ head, a heartpoundingly exciting apprehension of a witch, a fight with a vampire, the opening of an otherworldly vortex – all of them are executed with the highest production values. In addition, the English subtitles quite literally become part of the film’s narrative – changing colour and becoming obscured by action on the screen. It’s clever stuff, and will almost certainly cement the film a ‘must-see’ status.
This is the first instalment in a trilogy to be adapted from the fantasy novels of Sergei Lukyanenko – Day Watch and Dusk Watch are to follow. Perhaps it’s deliberate then that despite the inclusion of all manner of special effects and a sweeping story-arc, there is something about Night Watch that leaves you feeling a little underwhelmed, a little hungry for more. Certainly the film is cool and a welcomed fantasy-fix post Lord of the Rings and Matrix. But it carries the distracting hollowness of a film that knows it will appeal and knows it can redeem itself in subsequent instalments.