Guardiões da Noite

I enjoyed this movie quite a lot; if you are into Jeunet-type fantasy, I would recommend that you see it. Overall, I would give it a rating of 7 out of 10. The reason for the Jeunet comparison (e.g. Delicatessen, City of Lost Children) is that it has the same dark antiutopian/surrealistic ambiance to it, and is very imaginative. It is also very elaborate in its style, which lends most of the appeal to the movie. This being said, the biggest disappointment of the movie is the plot, which is overly straightforward and simple-minded, but at least it does not devolve into some technical meaningless psycho-babble as many Hollywood fantasy movies do, and maintains its fairy-tale quality.

It is unfortunate that modern Russian cinematography seems to be chasing the success of Hollywood (which is ironic, given the country's negative attitude towards US in general and Hollywood in particular), but this movie benefits from Hollywood-style special effects, and is free of annoying clichés (unlike the atrociously pretentious "Barber of Siberia" - another recent style-heavy Russian blockbuster; sorry Mikhalkov).

To sum up, this movie is quite original, imaginative, stylish and at times visually stunning, which in my book constitutes success, but don't expect any depth of ideas.

A tale of the modern, the effect that it can make, on traditions and behaviours, that over years have formed a brake, as barriers are broken, with walls cascading down, lines are crossed, words go unspoken, the Armageddon clock counts down.

The Night Watch keep on searching, for those who overstep the mark, those who crawl out of the shadows, those who live their life in dark; they have visions of the horrors, that may take the world to hell, using seers that they've discovered, a contemporary show and tell.

Anton finds more than he bargained for when hunting down a cursed doctor who is about to bring calamity and chaos reigning down on everything and all.

Hundred of years ago, the forces of light and darkness faced each other in a very violent battle on a bridge. In order to avoid the total slaughter, their leaders agree to have an armistice. Along the centuries, the two balanced sides are divided and the forces of light watch and control the vampires, a.k.a. as the forces of night. Among the humans lives "The Others", i.e., persons with supernatural powers including witches, sorcerers and vampires and with the free will to choose which side to join. The legend says that the two forces will be unbalanced by "The Great Other", and the side this powerful being selects will win the battle. In 1992, in Moscow, Anton Gorodetsky (Konstantin Khabensky) joins the forces of the light while hiring a witch for a black magic. In the present days, he faces the consequences of his act.

"Nochnoy Dozor" is an original and refreshing dark tale of the eternal battle in the world, between the good and the evil. The unpredictable story has great special effects and is very engaging, and it is interesting to see how the distinction between good and evil is actually very blurred in the present days. Unfortunately I found the screenplay very confused in spite of having understood the whole plot. Maybe watching a second time, this movie may be better and better. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Guardiões da Noite" ("Guardians of the Night")

With just over a $4 M budget, you would think there's only so much that a sci-fi/fantasy film can accomplish, but "Night Watch" proves exception with its well-imagined and executed effects courtesy the creative mind of Timur Bekmambetov. The style of the film alone helps to cover up the weak structure of the script.

"Night Watch," based on the novel by Sergei Lukyanenko, is sort of an anthropomorphic imagining of good versus evil, where good/light and evil/darkness are manifested as special individuals called "Others" who have been at peace since a truce long ago that said all would be able to choose freely between good or evil. Naturally there needs to be means of enforcing this truce, so there's a Night Watch (good guys) and a Day Watch (bad guys) who make sure both sides play nice. This of course becomes a lot harder with a prophecy suggesting someone will come along and his/her choice will throw off the balance forever. It's really a classic sci-fi "secret supernatural beings living among humans fighting a war of sorts" premise.

From the get-go, this movie is hard to follow. That concept gets presented fairly quickly and the script doesn't really give us any extra help in understanding who is what. It's hard to tell who is on what side and why and it hurts the film throughout whether its the lack of connection felt to the characters or that you're fighting just to get it the whole time that you have trouble appreciating much else.

Also important to know is that this film is not action-oriented. Although there are fight scenes, these are hardly action sequences as a moviegoer exposed to Western action movies might define them. It's more of a thriller story with lots of special effects and creative editing to bring the secret world of good vs. evil to life.

Bekmambetov is the key to making this movie work. He realizes that with the right editing techniques, anything low budget can still come across effectively. One early shot of the main character Anton taking out a vampire combines a little bit of special effects, illusion and make-up, but it is filmed in quick sequence that makes it all appear simultaneous like it is a CGI effect. It's creative thinking (and a few slow motion shots too).

When the forces of light and dark take to battle and realize they are equally strong, decide to make a truce. The people of light will become the Nightwatch, and the people of darkness will become the Daywatch. Neither side can force people to join their side, they have the freedom of choice. The Daywatch and Nightwatch keep tabs to make sure this truce holds.

When Anton finds out he is an other; a person with special powers, he joins the side of light. Anton is a seer and when he is finding a victim of two vampires, he runs into Svetlana, a virgin cursed with bad luck and key into the Apocolpes.

Night Watch is a mind blowing, visually astounding triumph of Russian cinema. Its dark, claustrophobic, grungy and a very thrilling ride. You can see that Timur Bekmambetov has a history in commercials, this moves at a fast paced and the camera doesn't stop moving, with constant fast swoops and always tracking around. The story has been done many times before, but it seems so fresh here. The flaw of the story though is that it's so layered it's hard to understand at first. As it moves at such at fast pace, there isn't much chance to take everything in and to nut everything out. But with all the energy Nightwatch contains, you don't care, cause you'll gladly go again.

For the small budget it had, you wonder how they made this film. You are constantly blown away by the visual effects. They are so flawless. The subtitles are cleverly used as well; they come into a form of their own.

All i can say is i cant wait for the sequels to now make there way over.