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Night Watch (2004)

Director: Timur Bekmambetov

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From Time Out London

An ambitious, flawed and ultimately frustrating fantasy/horror movie from Russia. Timur Bekmambetov’s adaptation of a cult novel by Sergei Lukyanenko aspires to be ‘Tarkovksy meets the Wachowski brothers’, combining ‘the energy of music videos and the clarity of commercials.’ With all its talk about the ‘Great One’, and its allegorical pontificating about shifts in the balance of power between the light and dark, one can see how the ‘Matrix’ comparison might apply. Tarkovsky, however, may rest easy in his grave. Reminiscent in part of Alex Proyas’ ‘Dark City’, the confusing plot concerns the eternal war between the altruistic forces of good and the anarchic forces of evil, which is waged while the citizens of modern-day Moscow are asleep (yawn). Caught up in the crossfire between the order-keeping magicians of the Night Watch and the vampires, shape-shifters and warlocks of the Day Watch is Anton (Konstantin Khabesky), a man haunted by his lost son, Yegor (Dima Martynov). Cinematographer Sergei Trofimov’s hyper-realistic visuals and the imaginative special effects lend a fizz of excitement to the scuzzy streets of Moscow, with its battered cars, scuffed apartments and makeshift lives. But these streets are empty of anybody about whom one can give a damn.

Author: NF 2005-10-04 12:28:29

Time Out London Issue 1833: October 5-12 2005