Night Watch (2004)

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 & 5 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:

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

In Anton's apartment, a reproduction of Rembrandt's painting "Nightwatch" can be briefly seen reflected in a window.

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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

The end credits are accompanied by a clip show of the movie in fast speed. The clip show is timed to the Russian end credits song "Nochnoi Dozor" by the band UmaTurman and corresponds with its lyrics. In the international version, the song has been replaced, however, the clip show is still the same.

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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

Shows promise as the beginning of a trilogy...

I have always respected fantasy-set films that try and take themselves seriously as cinematic pieces. When a director takes the actual construction of the film seriously, or tries to, I can respect the intent. As such "Night Watch" is difficult to judge. The cinematography is excellent: the camera-work is superb, the mood is perfect, the effects are beautifully rendered (and not overused), and the timing of individual scenes is consistent throughout the piece. The problem is the overall timing of the film. For over half the film, the overall plot and premise is ignored. It is very much as if we are watching two different episodes of the same TV series; the characters are the same, the premise is the same, it is clear how the plots fit together visually and thematically, but otherwise they have pretty much nothing to do with one another. They are not disjointed in their construction or presentation, it is simply that the plot threads are mostly unrelated.

It is worth pointing out that this is the first film in a planned trilogy. Every hanging plot/character moment in the film is very strongly intended to be followed through upon in the next two films, and it shows. Characters and references are not simply tossed aside, but are led into gently just enough to let the audience know that greater things are intended. While I'm not particularly a fan of this kind of thing, Night Watch does it very well, and I await the sequels with anticipation.

Many people on this board have made comparisons to Star Wars EpI-II, and for the life of me I haven't the faintest clue why. The concept of Imperfect Good vs Seductive Evil within the human soul was hardly invented by George Lucas (though vampires in Star Wars would be pretty freakin' cool), and its presentation in Night Watch is tight and interesting. There is no resemblance whatsoever, this is one of the more original films that I have ever seen, and I recommend it both for its flaws and perfections.