Night Watch (aka: Nochnoi Dozor) — movie review

by Kris   ⋅   February 23, 2006   ⋅   Comment now   ⋅    RSS

There are quite a few Russian fairy tales that may even instill fear in the hearts of adults as they portend the forces of good and evil in, let’s just say less than subtle descriptions. Swooping spectres and witches flying around in Williams Sonoma-ware (Babayaga in her mortar-and-pestle mobile), children and the elderly bound and chained up for decades, and grossly misshapen scenery all add up to a stunningly spooky time. What’s really interesting is that beyond the supernatural exaggerations exists an impass from various other European mythology. Sometimes morality is misplaced or misfabricated, leading to a not so happy ending. But, I get ahead of myself.

The predestined trilogy beginning with Night Watch is one such fairy tale, with vampires and voluptuous visuals. How voluptuous? Well, you’ll feel like you’re watching a feature-length music video à la Dom-&-Nic (Smashing Pumpkin’s Ava Adore) or Mark Romanek (Fiona Apple’s Criminal, Johnny Cash’s Hurt). I actually love that stylized stuff, and it often lullabied then launched the over-the-top, tumultuous storyline. The story itself, like an old tree or handmedown fairytale, is twisted and gnarly and deeply rooted in mystique and flourishes out of shit. Yet at times, the more unrealistic the tale, the better it gets. Especially amazing are a fight scene with an invisible warrior and a mirror as a shield/portal, and a woman emerging from an owl’s body.

The only problem with so many mini climaxes is that it leads to a drab ending. With such textural overload, a few characters and elements could’ve been removed, and the remainder plumped out. They could have retained that fasterfaster landscape without introducing the split-second people who would only become major players later on. I do appreciate that there’s just enough backstory (complete with the really bad “flashback” toupee) to make you understand that citizens and immortals roam together, even ride the subways together. You also quickly understand that good governs evil in a cops and robbers sort of way, acting more as a suppressor rather than erradicator and that innocence can inadvertently be the worst adversary of all.

The aim of the Nightwatch crew is to “arrest” the slimeballs who break codes and seek to harm humanity. Although in modern times, the lineage has overlapped, resulting in half-breeds and inner corruption. Good folk can voluntarily “turn” into vampires, like our normal noir hero Anton, who doesn’t leave us with much confidence as he is thrashed by some lanky kid, he gives no afterthought to rules or to his teammates and pretty much bungles every halfwitted yet ballsy idea he has. Why is Anton the go-to guy? Why is Anton the one to save humanity from a giant Ghostbuster-type mega cloud of destruction?

Night Watch is a vampire quest for the prozac pumped and the ADD action-starved that only poops out at the “Afterschool Special” ending. Praise it for the slamming visuals, discredit it for the Chutes and Ladders side stories, but be entertained nonetheless.

About the Author:

Kris Kobayashi-Nelson loves spookity scare-ity horror movies from cheesy Dracula to psychotropic-induced Kiyoshi Kurosawa films.

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