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Review

The Russian import Night Watch is a high concept, over the top horror/fantasy hybrid that takes itself a tad too seriously. In modern day Moscow a truce exists between the forces of good and evil that allows humans to choose their own destinies. Underground forces comprised of supernaturally powered “Others” uphold this truce: the Night Watch police the dark soldiers while the Day Watch in turn police the light. This promising premise is quickly bogged down by the presence of garden-variety vampires as well as a tired plot concerning a prophesized “chosen one” who will upset the thousand year old balance. Will he choose the Light or the Dark Side of the Force? The answer is revealed in the film’s episodic-like ending and will be further explored in the two sequels that will soon follow.

Night Watch combines the visuals of The Matrix with those of the films of Jean-Pierre Jeunet and modern CGI-heavy Hong Kong films, throws in the attitude of a Guy Ritchie film, and justifies its status as a series with the scope of the Lord Of The Rings trilogy. The plot, like the visual style, is derivative of any number of sci-fi/fantasy films, from Star Wars to Underworld, but it does have several moments of inspired originality (porcelain dolls grow spider legs and walk around, exiled “Others” are turned into morphing animals). Ultimately though, Night Watch is yet another modern fantasy offering that justifies its inexplicable happenings through a heavy reliance on the loose restraints of its own genre. Maybe the series will find its voice in the second installment like Star Wars did with Empire.

 -- Eric Bresler