Night Watch
(Nochnoy dozor)
(2004)
review by Suspiriorum

Since time immemorial, the knights who called themselves the “Warriors of Light” have been chasing witches & sorcerers who torture humans. But one day, the “Warriors of Darkness” barred their path, and no one wanted to make way. And so started a mighty battle, bloody & merciless. As the battle reached heaven, Great Gesser saw they were equal, & if the battle were not stopped, all would perish. And so he stopped the battle, & the forces of Light & the forces of Darkness signed the Armistice. And it was said that from that day on neither good nor evil could be made without mutual consent. And it was said that there shall be the Day Watch to watch over the forces of Light, & there shall be the Night Watch to watch over the forces of Darkness. Yet in a thousand years, the Great Other will come & take the side of Evil, plunging the world into Darkness.

A huge hit in its native Russia, ‘Nightwatch’ arrives on a wave of hype proudly proclaiming it to be “in the tradition of ‘Blade’ & ‘Underworld’”. Well, yes it’s got vampires in it, & is more action than horror, but if you’re expecting a relentless string of action scenes & running gun battles, you’re in for a major disappointment. For ‘Nightwatch’ is not really an action film, just as it’s not really a horror film – which makes it perhaps a shame that it’s being marketed as an action horror film. The film certainly contains elements of horror & action, but at its heart this is in the realm of pure fantasy – like a darker, richer, cooler, more stylish Marina. The forces of Light are made up of a strange mix of psychics, shape-shifters & the like, whilst the forces of Darkness includes vampires, witches, & err…pop starlets. Whilst it borrows such familiar genre archetypes, it takes place in its own unique world quite unlike anything seen on screen before. There are many interesting concepts & ideas running rampant through the film – such as the way a vampire can see only the blood running through a small boys veins, or the “gloom” (a parallel reality like when Frodo puts on the Ring) into which the forces of Darkness slip to escape from sight. On first watch it’s almost exhausting to keep up with these concepts, as the filmmakers actually trust the audiences intelligence to figure out what they are & how they work.

Although the film is very modestly budgeted (estimated $4.2Million – meaning you could make ‘Nightwatch’ 15 times over for the same cost as ‘Blade Trinity’, & still have change left over!) it seems that money goes much further in Russia than in the UK or USA, for the film looks considerably more expensive. Director Timur Bekmambetov turns out to be a formidable stylist, packing the film with simply stunning visuals. The camera is constantly moving, pulling off astonishing acrobatic leaps & twists - most notably the breathtaking shot following a single nut as it falls off of an aeroplane mid-flight & drops to earth, falling through an air conditioning system before plopping into a cup of coffee belonging to the person who is inadvertently responsible for the imminent disaster. The tricky visuals are enhanced with considerable use of CG effects, although for once these fall into the ‘Lord of the Rings’ type of being used to enhance the narrative & storytelling techniques, rather than simply for show-off effect. The low budget does, however, show both in the action scenes that hardly reach Hollywood-level complexities (although personally I actually quite like that!), & the frequent bursts of product placement - though it’s scarcely more than some Hollywood films I could mention! On the plus side, there is a cracking orchestral score by Yuri Poteyekno, which boasts a highly memorable main theme of which I’m going to have to seek out on CD.

The plotting is actually surprisingly complex & involved, and may take a second viewing to fully appreciate how intricate it is. For the first half the film belts along at a terrific pace, dishing out eye-popping visuals, relentless ideas & unexpectedly important plot elements with reckless abandon, daring the audience to keep up. The second half, sadly, is not quite so strong as the first, taking in the twin plot elements of a woman cursed with a bad luck vortex causing disaster to all around her, & the efforts of a female vampire to reclaim a young boy the Night Watch rescued from her. Somehow these strands both meld together & take in the prophecy of the Great Other, yet the pace drags & becomes rather stodgy - despite the best efforts of the effects team & whirly-jigging camera.

For a film whose central concern is the battle between good & evil, ‘Nightwatch’ is surprisingly even-handed regarding which side it takes, presenting both sides with shades of grey. The central character of Anton is a considerably more interesting protagonist than you might expect. His status as an Other (essentially a Warrior, rather than a human) is only discovered when he goes to a Dark Other for help. He has to choose which side he is on, & he goes through some very dark places, questioning whether his choice of Light is the right one.

The Russian DVD cut I have has a pretty rubbish anamorphic widescreen image, disappointingly soft & full of pixilation – though thankfully the Dolby 5.1 audio is good & strong (& it has English subs!). There was supposed to be a subtitled “making of” on here, but no matter how hard I look through the Russian menus, all I can find are trailers, adverts & text-based things I can’t read. Oh well.

When I heard that Fox Searchlight had picked up the film for international distribution I was really pleased – that is until I found out they were to be releasing a re-edited version. Frankly, this made me very nervous & suspect that what would entail would be a Hollywood homogenising, ironing out all the quirks & peculiarities that make the film so interesting. However, it seems that Bekmambetov was brought in to oversee the changes & the result is actually a stronger film. On a simple level, some of the CG effects have been subtly tarted up, whilst the subtitles are done in a unique & stylish manner – different colours, fonts, positioning on the screen – it sounds like a simple gimmick but it works really well & compliments the film perfectly.

Yet the changes are much deeper than that. Although I’ve heard some say that the changes amount to around 40-60 minutes, I only noticed around 15-20 changed from the DVD. The cuts are mostly from the second half of the film, which is where the pace really lags & which could have done with some stricter editing in the first place. The missing scenes – though often interesting in & of themselves – are ultimately superfluous & slow the film down. It’s also pleasing to note that the most blatant bit of product placement (where a character had to go to the supermarket to buy another jar of coffee!) has hit the cutting room floor. In addition, the subtitles have been retranslated & read much more freely than the difficult-to-follow Russian version. In short, the film simply plays much stronger, more coherently, & less butt-numbingly in the Fox Searchlight cut, which is undoubtedly the version I’ll be returning to most often in the future. I don’t know what the plans are for the DVD release, but I believe a 2-disc set is promised. Ideally that would include both cuts, but, even if it were the Fox cut only, I would expect the deleted scenes to be on as extras. Factor in the unsatisfactory nature of the Russian disc, & ultimately the conclusion I’ve come to is that the Fox version is worth waiting for.

Whilst ‘Nightwatch’ is not exactly great art, intensely profound, or packed with relentless action sequences, it is a damned superior piece of popcorn-munching entertainment. Simply breathtaking to look at, yet with enough content & innovation to back it up, if you temper your expectations & take the film for what it is, it should more than please you. Personally, I can’t wait for the second instalment.