Night Watch (2004)
"Nochnoy dozor" (original title)

A fantasy-thriller set in present-day Moscow where the respective forces that control daytime and nighttime do battle.

Director:

Timur Bekmambetov

Writers:

Timur Bekmambetov (screenplay), Laeta Kalogridis (screenplay),

Stars:

Konstantin Khabenskiy, Vladimir Menshov, Mariya Poroshina

2 wins & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Konstantin Khabenskiy	...	Anton
Vladimir Menshov	...	Geser
Valeriy Zolotukhin	...	Otets Kosti
Mariya Poroshina	...	Svetlana
Galina Tyunina	...	Olga
Yuriy Kutsenko	...	Ignat (as Gosha Kutsenko)
Aleksey Chadov	...	Kostya
Zhanna Friske	...	Alisa
Ilya Lagutenko	...	Andrey
Viktor Verzhbitskiy	...	Zavulon
Rimma Markova	...	Koldunya Darya
Mariya Mironova	...	Mat Egora
Aleksey Maklakov	...	Semyon
Aleksandr Samoylenko	...	Medved
Dmitriy Martynov	...	Egor (as Dima Martynov)

Storyline

Among normal humans live the "Others" possessing various supernatural powers. They are divided up into the forces of light and the forces of the dark, who signed a truce several centuries ago to end a devastating battle. Ever since, the forces of light govern the day while the night belongs to their dark opponents. In modern day Moscow the dark Others actually roam the night as vampires while a "Night Watch" of light forces, among them Anton, the movie's protagonist, try to control them and limit their outrage.

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Plot Keywords:

mother son relationship | battle | vampire | supernatural power | bridge | 

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Taglines:

All That Stands Between Light And Darkness Is The Night Watch.

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Genres:

Action | Fantasy | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong violence, disturbing images and language

Details

Official Sites:

Author Lukyanenko's Official "Nochnoy dozor" Forum [Russia] Fox [Spain]

Country:

Russia

Language:

Russian German

Release Date:

3 March 2006 (USA)

Also Known As:

Night Watch

Filming Locations:

Russia

Box Office

Budget:

$4,200,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$66,584 (Turkey) (30 September 2005)

Gross:

$1,487,477 (USA) (28 April 2006)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bazelevs Production, Channel One Russia, TABBAK

Technical Specs

Runtime:

114 min 104 min (international)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

One of the paper pictures on the wall at the witch's home is a small reproduction of "Vertumnus" by Giuseppe Arcimboldo.

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Goofs

The Second time we see Yegor watching 'Buffy' on TV the shot shows one scene as he stops in front of the TV. He then turns and the reverse shot shows a different scene on the TV but the audio has continued from the original scene, a lot earlier in the episode.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Narrator: Since the time immemorial, the knights who call themselves the Warriors of Light have been chasing witches and sorcerers who torture humans.

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Crazy Credits

In the international version of the film, the first words of the prologue appear as a Russian text title which then transforms into its English translation. The Russian version does not have any text title.

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Connections

Featured in Kak snimalsya 'Nochnoy dozor' (2004)

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Soundtracks

Nochnoy dozor (Finalnyy rep)
("Night Watch (The Final Rap)")
Music by Vladimir Krestovskiy
Lyrics by Sergey Lukyanenko reworked by Vladimir Krestovskiy
Performed by Uma2rman (uncredited)
Featured during the end credits of the original Channel One Russia release

User Reviews

From Russia with Loads of Monsters

"Night Watch" is one of the most expensive Russian film production ever and enjoyed in it's home country the best movie start of all time (15 million US $ in its first month), but is it any good? Yes and no. First of all, let me say that this is a special effects film and even though for a Russian production this has a comparatively huge budget for CGI and makeup f/x, the results are decidedly mixed. Most of it is OK, with single drops into the ridiculous. The direction by former ad director Bekmambetov is stylish enough, without forgetting to portray the grittiness of Russian life circumstances. The actors are competent, though leading man Konstantin Khabensky is lacking in the charisma department. The story ultimately is the measurement of what is good and bad about "Night Watch" and it does contain both. The novels, on which this film is based, are pretty complex, making this the first in a trilogy, with "Day Watch" and "Dusk Watch" to come. The presented battle between good and evil supernatural beings is reminiscent of other genre efforts, but unlike, say "Underworld", "Night Watch" takes its elements seriously. This is a mixed blessing. On one hand you have a real mythology underlying events instead of a starting point for subway machine gun battles of longhairs, on the other there is no humor in the picture and the reverent and dead serious tone in spite of the bizarre events is sometimes overdone and a little laughable. The idea of supernatural police forces observing and checking each other is a nice one, as are numerous quirky little ideas, but overall there are two lame stereotypes for every good and fresh idea. Most disappointing is the double climax letdown. The 'grudge' storyline is extremely well built up with lots of suspense but ends with a whimper instead of a bang. The climax of the 'kid' storyline is muddled as well, but does offer a nice full circle resolution to one aspect of the story and features an interesting cliffhanger.

Overall, the shortcomings are (just slightly) outweighed by a fresh, different and decidedly un-Hollywood take on fantasy movie standards. This is an interesting and worthy effort, though strictly for fans of the fantasy/mystery genre.

6/10