Search - Night Watch [Blu-ray] on Blu-ray

Now among my favorite films!

EquesNiger | Prague, Czech Republic | 05/14/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Others are those wizards, sorcerers, witches and shapechangers among us, locked in combat between those dedictaed to the Light and Dark. Generals Gesen and Zavulon command the forces of Others dedicated to Light and Darkness, respectively. On a bridge, the two armies meet, and a truce is struck to prevent to annihilation of all Others in that combat. Both sides wait for the birth of an Other whose choice of sides will decide the end to their struggle.

In 1992, Anton, a mild mannered man, meets a modern witch in her apartment to have her cast a spell to retun his lost love to him. She warns him that his love is now pregnant with another man's child, and that this child will constantly draw Anton's love back to the other man, unless it is also destroyed. However, the witch will only attempt to destroy the child if Anton agrees to accept the responsibility of that act. In the botched process of casting the spell to destroy the unborn child, he awakes to the uneeen world around him, becoming an Other.

In 2004, Anton has chosen the Light side, and is hunting vampires and other Dark siders in Moscow, using his special Gift as a Seer. Ironically, he lives next door to a vampire, and they share a wary but friendly relationship. Interestingly, the Light is in the habit of providing special licenses to Dark siders, allowing them to kill/feed/convert/etc., but each side polices the activities of the other to make certain that the Truce is never broken. During an intervention, Anton kills the vampire lover of a young girl, recently "turned", saving a young boy in the process, but effectively violating the peace. He also encounters Svetlana, something "much worse than a vampire", but who is wholly unaware of her role in apocalyptic events about to unfold.

This unique film brings a Russian artistic and cultural approach to a story that seems straight out of a graphic novel. While the story itself may not be unique, seeming pretty much standard Gaiman or Vertigo fare, the production is stunning. The director uses camera angles, and incorporates photographic and artistic elements I've never seen, and the effect is enthralling. It's not a film based on big pyrotechnic explosions and gunfire, and the Special Effects aren't totally up to Dreamworks standards, but the film is a lush portrait of the struggle between good and evil, as well as the tendency of each walking those paths to cross over to the others point of view, that puts recent films of similar theme (Underworld 1/2, Constantine, Van Helsing) in 2nd place."

Absolutely incredible genre-busting film.

trashcanman | Hanford, CA United States | 05/01/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

""It is easier for a man to destroy the Light inside himself than to defeat the darkness all around him."
"Night Watch" is the closest any film has come since "The Matrix" to completely knocking me on my ass on the fisrt viewing. There is so much awesomeness in this movie, that you can almost feel the rest of the trilogy building as this first installment goes on. The story is so well crafted, the action so exhilarating, and the themes and concepts put forth so fresh that the few flaws are easily brushed aside in favor of total immersion into this new world. The story centers around the war between light and dark. The light side has a special organization, Night Watch, who monitor the dark ones even as the dark side's own Day Watch monitors them. Both sides have the goal of maintaining peace and order as each man and woman is free to choose which side they will follow. Needless to say, the truce between the two sides is tentative at best. Each member of the supernatural light/dark battle is referred to as an "Other" and they include in their ranks witches, vampires, shapeshifters and all of the other usual horror fare. They all have the ability to slip into an alternate dimension known as "The Gloom" which makes them invisible to the real world except for their reflection in mirrors. This is used to create some mind-bogglingly awesome and creepy shots. The characters are many, interesting, and instantly accessible. Each has a great story behind them, but most are sorely underdeveloped. This, I'm sure, will be remedied in the next installment. I mean, how could you not want to see more of a villain who pulls a sword out of his own spine? Then there's the sexy were-tiger girl (don't blink or you'll miss her awesome tranformation) and a pop-diva who doubles as a Day Watch warrior. Heck, there's a character who can supposedly change into a bear and it is never even shown in the film. But you know what they say in show business: always leave the audience wanting more. Well, they certainly succeeded on that front. The best thing about this genre-defying epic is that it really does feel like the tip of the iceberg. The only true flaw that this film has is some very bad quick-cutting during the action sequences that can be very confusing. That's pretty much it. The rest is pure gold as far as I'm concerned. There is also a wealth of deleted scenes that are well worth watching as they help flesh out the story. In fact, I don't think I've ever seen a DVD with more deleted scenes that I wished had stayed in the film. If you've been looking for something different and mind-blowing in the horror/sci-fi/fantasy genre then you would be a fool to pass this film by.
"

Thats it !! I'm moving to Russia.....

Sheldon Scheck spartan | lethbridge, Alta CAN | 06/01/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I had stumbled onto the trailer to this epic about two years ago by accident when I downloaded it off the internet. Immediately I was stunned by just the short clips I saw and was even more amazed when the credits flashed at the end and they were written in Russian! A movie that encompasses several genres with no big Hollywood names or actors/actresses attached and showcases some of the most original cinematography I had ever seen? How can this movie not be good? I waited and waited...1 year had passed and still nothing...small tidbits filter back that this movie was smashing all records over in Russia, beating North American glam movies like Spiderman and Lord of the Rings... everywhere I asked or talked about it no one knew what the hell I was talking about...then I hear that the studios are translating it over for a North American release ( the first thing that went thru my head was they are going to screw with it too much and end up butchering it..)

FINALLY IT ARRIVES!!!!!! I can honestly say its been forever since a movie got my blood racing just off a preview but this one did and then some. I went to Nightwatch opening night and as the movie started I began to freak out because the first lines from the narrator are in English and not Russian!! Noooo they dubbed over the Russian actors voices and it won't be subtitled, but much to my relief they did indeed keep the original actors voices and it was subtitled ( This is a huge annoyance when studios voice over instead of subtitles, if they wanted it in English they would have filmed it in English!)

This movie destroyed any and everything that I had seen in the last ten years. It took an age old theme and put a kickass twist on it, the effects were great but what made them stand above anything over here is the attention to detail and being creative with the use of the special F/X. ( the little boy getting a bleeding nose underwater was cool..) and speaking of detail for us narrow minded fools that don't speak Russian what they did with the subtitles was frigging brilliant, when someone spoke the subtitles went up on screen, but if someone walked in front of them they disappeared, if an actor read something off the computer screen the dialogue appeared as computer written(undrescore included ). The thing that I also love so much about this movie is that even tho its dealing with all of these fantasy/sci-fi etc. elements it still delivers a complete taste of Russian culture and essence of its people and to me that kicked ass hardcore and because of this there is no way I could see this movie being made anywhere else in the world or by any other people in the world. I love you all for giving me this experience. HA!

This movie was beyond and above all my expectations. The fact that this is a trilogy just creates more anticipation.
I have to wait how long to see the final chapter? !@%#$#&*$! but its all good. I now know there is a book which is awesome and will definitely buy and read. Bottomline this is a movie that you will either totaly get and fall in love with or you won't "get it" if your of the latter then take off, I think I hear hollywood calling your name, something about Spiderman 14, or X-men 5, King Kong 8 etc.

So ya damn Ruskies ya won me over and then some!! Not only did I love this movie but I went out of my way to tell everyone about it, so when this beauty comes out on DVD hell ya I'm buying it.

Like it or hate it? I'm level enough to leave my email address if ya want to let me know what u think...sscheck@hotmail.com

P.s. I'm completely jealous of all that live in Russia and will get to see all three films about 4 years before I do...HAHAHAHA oh well."

This DVD is feature packed with many different language and

John FulciLives Coleman | Pittsburgh, PA USA | 06/24/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Some early reviews have stated incorrect information regarding the subtitle status of this movie. In fact this DVD has so many features when it comes to audio and subtitle selection that it can be confusing. This is my review of these options in hopes of making it all understandable.

This DVD release is a single disc DVD release but the DVD has information on both sides. Side 1 is dual layer whereas Side 2 is single layer.

It is easier if I describe SIDE 2 before I describe SIDE 1 so here goes ...

SIDE 2 OF THE DVD:
This side has the much celebrated animated subtitles which have been burned into the image. They are not selectable meaning they cannot be turned off. This was the only way to do the subtitles due to the animated and varied nature of the subtitles. If you haven't seen the movie yet then this will make sense once you watch this version.

This side has 5.1 Dolby Digital Russian audio although when there is voice-over (like at the beginning of the film) the voice-over is in English but all characters are in the original Russian. The only other audio on this side is the audio commentary by the director who thankfully speaks English very well.

Now there are a variety of subtitle options that can be turned on and off. These usually appear at the top of the screen so as not to interfer with the burned-in animated subtitls.

1.) English for the hearing imparied. This is like Closed Captioned subtitles. They don't repeat the already burned in subtitles [except for the voice-over stuff which is fully subtitled here) but add to the already burned in subtitles by saying [BUZZING] ... [DOOR LOCK CLICKS] ... [PHONE RINGING] ... and other CC type stuff.

2.) French subtitles

3.) Spanish subtitles

4.) Subtitle Commentary by the author of the book NIGHT WATCH on which the film is based on. This is interesting as this "commentary" is not verbal but in subtitle form. It is available in English, French and Spanish.

That's it for SIDE TWO.

SIDE 1 OF THE DVD:
This side does NOT have the famous animated subtitles that can be found on SIDE 2 of the DVD. Instead SIDE 1 of the DVD features a 5.1 Dolby Digital English soundtrack. This is of course dubbed as the original film is a Russian language film. Also included are 2.0 Dolby Surround Sound (but not 5.1 DD) audio tracks in French and Spanish.

There are several subtitles options:

1.) English - Full English subs but these are just "plain" English subtitles ... not the famous "animated" subtitles found on SIDE 2 of the DVD. Not sure why they are here since this side of the DVD has no Russian but an English dub soundtrack which makes these English subtitles a bit useless.

2.) English for the hearing impaired. This is the same as the English subtitles above but adds Closed Captioned information like [DOG BARKING] ... [PHONE RINGING] ... [BEEPING] ... and other CC type stuff.

3.) Spanish subtitles.

To sum things up SIDE 1 of the DVD is only for those that want to watch the film with either an English dub, French dub or Spanish dub. SIDE 2 is the side you really want to watch as it has Russian dialog with the famous "animated" English subtitles and even has selectable English hearing impaired subs.

SIDE 1 is SPECIAL though in that it has some extra "bonus" stuff not on SIDE 2 which I will detail now:

1.) THE ROOF (Extended Ending). Unlike the movie (which is 16x9 WS on both sides) this bonus scene is presented in a letterboxed 4:3 ratio. It has several audio and subtitle options which include:

A.) 5.1 Russian
B.) 5.1 English
C.) Director Commentary (speaking English)

There are also subtitle options here including English, French or Spanish. These are simple selectable non-animated subtitles.

Also on this side is a short video called NIGHT WATCH TRILOGY which is short but interesting as the director talks about the first film and it's appeal outside of the Russia and briefly talks about the second film and a proposed "direction" the third film may take. All too brief though.

We also get trailers for BROKEN SAINTS (some animated film I never heard of that looks interesting), THE HILLS HAVE EYES (the remake) and lastly a short trailer for some fall TV show comming to FX called THIEF.

Last but not least is a video called INSIDE LOOK which turns out to be nothing more than a teaser type trailer for the remake of THE OMEN. Why this is called INSIDE LOOK on the menu is anyone's guess.

Anyways that is all she wrote ... hope this is helpfull to you!"