Fox Searchlight somewhat helpfully included a defective DVD of the first movie with their schwag bag for Day Watch (along with small size t-shirts and an astronaut sew-on patch for Sunshine). Skippy or not, Night Watch was difficult to sit through. I expected more of Timur Bekmambetov’s flashy Matrix-in-Moscow stylings, but this first movie of the trilogy is a lot darker and duller than its sequel. Vampires, swirling clouds of crows, ancient battles, youngsters who face fateful choices and other stock fantasy elements meet in a Russian setting, but Night Watch has a first-act feel to: things are set up but nothing generates much heat. Day Watch is a significantly more exciting movie, but I doubt it would have made any more sense if I’d seen them in order.
Nochnoy dozor. Timur Bekmambetov, 2004. *
- Rotten Tomatoes: 57%
- Watch the entire movie:
[googlevideo]4494292942271651731[/googlevideo]
My thoughts were pretty similar:
Night Watch (2006), Timur Bekmambetov, D
Jordan | Jordan Hoffman’s Movie Journal | Tuesday, March 14th, 2006 edit
As if we needed more proof: cool special effects are fun to watch for a while, but if you don’t have an original or interesting story to tell, you have no movie. And even if the first half-hour is jaw-dropping, the remaining three half-hours simply hurt your ass. There is only one truly neato concept in “Night Watch,” but it hit me mid-way through that it is stolen from “Lord of the Rings” (how is entering “The Gloom” not the same as when Frodo puts on the Ring?) Some groovy shots, yeah — I certainly recommend this to anyone on drugs who wants to see cool images. And props must go out to whomever decided that the English subtitles should move around the screen, fade in and out, turn red, change size, etc. (I think using subtitles as a quasi-diagetic graphic element is basically without precedent.) But I won’t be lining up for the sequels.
I thought it was worse than that. My jaw never dropped once, and I wouldn’t recommend Nochnoy Dozor to anyone on drugs or sober. Maybe goths on PCP, I dunno. You’re right that the subtitles are sort-of interesting, and they’re taking that idea even further in the sequel. At least the title is fun to say: Nochnoy Dozor! Nochnoy Dozor! NOCHNOY DOZOR!