Night Watch / Nochnoy Dozor (Bekmambetov, 2004) August 22, 2006

part of this series:
From the Tsars to the Stars: A Journey Through Russian Fantastik Cinema
August 11 – 24

http://www.filmlinc.com/wrt/onsale/russianfant06.html

NIGHT WATCH / NOCHNOY DOZOR
Director: Timur Bekmambetov, Country: Russia, Release: 2004, Runtime: 114 minutes

American audiences used to cut-rate CGI fantasies and bargain basement scripts were properly startled by this eye-opening 2004 film. Commercial director Bekmambetov goes the Wachowski Brothers one better and pulls out stops we never knew were there with this furiously inventive, pop culturally savvy tale of modern-day Moscow in the midst of a savage war between the forces of light — the warlocks —and darkness — the vampires. When warlock Anton (Konstantin Khabensky) battles a vampire on his own, he breaks the truce between the rival orders that could be the first step on the road to total war. The look of the film, drenched in Gothic atmosphere and techno sleekness, is terrific, and the action is pulse-pounding. “A great, heart-pumping, blow-you-to-the walls movie experience…the best of it fires up the devils and angels of the imagination.” – Michael Wilmington