Night Watch

I was initially excited to watch this movie because normally I am a fan of the fantasy genre. However, I found myself disappointed about half-way through the film. I felt that Night Watch would have been better had the premise for the movie been explained clearly. There were seemingly things in this film that happened for reasons that were unknown to the audience. Apparently, all of the 'forces of evil' were vampires and they could not be seen by anybody unless the Night Watch summoned them. Some normal people just seemed to be able to see the 'others' while some could not. I was confused as to how the old man stealing from the store was able to see the 'professional calmer'. The movie did not really do a great job of explaining what made somebody an 'other' and what constitued somebody as a 'normal' human. I was unclear as to whether an individual achieved immortal life after they became an other. In my opinion, the 'others' seemed as though they were in fact immortal beings from the 'ancient land' that had been suspended in there battle (which leads me to question how they could do anything if they were suspended in time). I also felt that information was just thrown at the audience randomly. For example, all of a sudden an unfortunate virigin becomes part of the equation in the battle between good and evil. This movie went back and forth between make believe and the real world too much for my taste (Byzantium was mentioned and yet the battle took place in some magical land). In my opinion, there were too many inconsistencies in this movie.

Unfortunately for Bekmambetov, Steve McQueen was not the star of Night Watch and thus action and 'coolness' were unable to compensate for the plot holes. However, I liked the way that this movie played upon people's fears. The forces of evil in this movie had many elements that probably were only real in nightmares. For example, there was a lot of blood in this film and vampires were running around trying to suck the life out of innocent children. The witch at the beginning of the movie may have had the most eerie voice that I have ever heard in my life and the apparent leader of the dark forces seemingly had incredible powers (not to mention a rather disgusting sword). The notion of evil being so strong was probably disquieting for most people. But, perhaps the most frightening aspect of this movie was the way blood was almost overused. Characters drank blood, spit blood down walls, and were covered in blood at various points during the movie.

The main character reminded me exactly of Blade. He had been tainted by evil but used his powers to fight for good. I guess I felt that a large majority of the plot had just been cut out from other films and placed in a jumbled heap into this one. Perhaps, I would feel differently had I read the book before watching the movie. I was surprised that this movie did better than Lord of the Rings in Russia. This almost leads me to draw the conclusion that some Russians prefer works of art that are outrageously weird and impossible to understand over works of art that are tangible.