Ok, let me start by saying this review is based on the original Russian version of this movie. I’ve heard that Fox Searchlight is changing some things for the American release but I’ve been unable to find out exactly what’s been changed. So keep that in mind.

Night Watch starts with a battle between the armies of the Dark and the Light. When it becomes clear that both forces are evenly matched a truce is made and the Day Watch and Night Watch are created as a sort of police force. The dark side (Day Watch) is made up of vampires and the light (Night Watch) is those humans who are Other; shape shifters, seers, sorcerers and the like. The truce holds for hundreds of years until a “Great Other” that has been spoken about in prophecy is born. Whichever side he chooses, good or evil, will then gain the upper hand.

I really wanted to love this film; I’ve heard so many good things about it for months.

Now that I’ve watched it I have to say that I’m really disappointed. I didn’t hate it or anything but it definitely wasn’t what I was expecting. First of all get it out of your head that there are lots of fight scenes and monsters. Before anyone yells at me for needing “Hollywood-type fight scenes” let me say that I don’t need them but if you aren’t going to have them in your movie then don’t put “In the style of Blade and Underworld” on your box. Most of this movie is talking. This is a supernatural drama, not a horror movie.

I can defiantly appreciate the filming. The shots are moody and atmospheric; the screen is saturated with gloom and grit. The CGI is done well and not overused; in fact I wish they would’ve shown more. The all too brief glimpse of a shape shifter was intriguing and I would’ve liked to have seen more. My chief complaint is regarding the few fight scenes. I thought they were too close up, you really couldn’t see much of anything.

There were a lot of times I had no idea what had just happened or what was going on. Some of this could probably be rectified with repeated viewings when I don’t have to concentrate as hard on the subtitles but there were a lot of major WTF moments. It felt like big chunks of the movie had been edited out. The subtitles were lousy, with incorrect tenses, grammar and just not making any sense but I did read that the subtitles have been redone. In the version I saw the subtitles were very thin and white, in the US release I hear they are done very artistically.

The plot contained two separate storylines I felt weakened it overall. The story of the prophecy and history was a strong one. The second story regarding a woman who is cursed and therefore is bringing down the apocalypse was unnecessary. There’s a sentence you don’t write every day. The ending is abrupt but interesting and unexpected and it made me want to see the next one regardless of my disappointment. This movie is the first in a trilogy, the others being Day Watch and Dusk Watch. (Does anyone else think they wanted Dusk to be Dawn but didn’t want the comparisons? I mean really, Dusk Watch?)

As much as I’d like to go into more detail I can’t without revealing too much so I look forward to more of you seeing the movie and debating and discussing things with me. I may actually go see this in the theatres and submit another review under this one if I learn that much is different.

5 out of 10 super cool spine swords in which the effect is lost when they inexplicably show a video game scene for no reason. I know what you’re thinking but I’m not going to mention his name.

People with special powers, called Others, are warriors in the eternal battle between Light and Dark, good and evil. For 1000 years a truce has held between them. Light Others, called the Night Watch, police the Dark Others to enforce the truce, and Dark Others called the Day Watch police the Light. Each Other must choose either the side the Light or the Dark. However, some day a Great Other will be born, and his choice will tip the balance between the two sides and herald the Apocalypse.

Now, that sounds like some typical cheesy swords and sorcery crappola, but it's completely misleading. Night Watch is actually a fresh and weird supernatural apocalypse tale set in modern Moscow. This movie was terrifically popular in Russia when it came out, and inspired the fierce derision of various intellectuals for adopting Hollywood style slickness and CGI effects. (Apparently Russian intellectuals think all movies should be like Solaris, which ... well, it is an absolutely brilliant and riveting exploration of the nature of memory, experience and what it means to be human, and is also widely acknowledged to be the most boring movie ever made.) That criticism is true to some extent - Night Watch clearly owes a lot of its look to slick high-budget US action films (this is the director who would give us an entire movie about nothing more than Angelina Jolie shooting curveball bullets, after all). However, there is some real imagination, and a nice dark sense of humor, that makes this film really fun to watch.

We start with Anton, in Moscow in 1992, who has gone to a witch to lure back his wife, who has left him for a lover. The witch tells him that his wife is pregnant, the child isn't his, and even if she comes back to him the child will always pull her away. However, killing an innocent is a serious sin, and she will only do it if Anton agrees to take responsibility for the sin on himself. Taking none of this seriously, Anton agrees, but thinks better of it as the witch casts her spell. Suddenly, strange things start to happen, and a group breaks into the apartment to arrest the witch. They are the Night Watch, and Anton can see them because he, too, is an Other, a seer who can catch snippets of the future.

12 years later, Anton is also a vampire (he's apparently a pretty crappy seer and his visions aren't good enough for field work) and an agent for the Night Watch, tracking a Dark vampire who is luring a boy to feed on him (without a license). Who is this boy and why do the Dark Others want him? Why does Anton feel compelled to protect him? And what does the sad, cursed girl with a vortex of damnation swirling about her have to do all of this?

The plot develops impressionistically, seeming disconnected and a bit confusing, rather like a lot of Asian horror. Unlike most Asian horror, it does all get tied up (semi) sensibly in the end, and, as you can tell from the set up, the general concept (supernatural beings engage in battle between good and evil) is hardly new. But the plot and characters are, to my Western eyes at least, weird and unexpected as they develop. One thing I appreciate more than just about anything else in a horror movie is the ability to surprise me. Combine this with a refreshingly black world-view (Russian stories don't have happy endings, I've been told), and you've got a nice change of pace.

8 out of 10