Night Watch [DVD]

Night Watch [DVD] [2005]
Directed by Timur Bekmambetov

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£7.99 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Delivery. Details

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review
Night Watch is that rare film that--like The Matrix--is not only visually dazzling but creates an intriguing, seductive, and thrilling alternative world. A young man named Anton, after dabbling in black magic to bring back the wife who left him, discovers that the world is populated by fantastical Others (vampires, shape-shifters, witches, and more) who have chosen sides--Light or Dark--in an epic battle. A truce has been declared; both sides watch the other to ensure the truce is maintained. But a prophecy has predicted that a powerful Other will tilt the balance, and Anton--who is himself an Other--finds himself crucial to the prophecy's fulfillment. There's no question that Night Watch has weaknesses. Numerous plot holes get glossed over by pell-mell pacing, the visual conception of the apocalyptic battle between Light and Dark is curiously pedestrian (a bunch of knights fighting a bunch of guys in fur with swords--what happened to their various powers?), and more--but, much like similar problems with The Matrix, it doesn't matter.

The alternative world Night Watch presents is so rich with possibilities that it takes on a life of its own, both as an imaginative universe and as a vivid metaphor for the moral complexities of our own lives--for example, though the forces of Light claim to be good, their often brutal actions call their virtue into question, and the forces of Dark make some compelling moral arguments on the topic. The movie is so overstuffed with ideas that many don't get fleshed out, but that only contributes to the sense of vitality and unexplored dimensions. Even the subtitles are used creatively. The impending sequels (this is the first film of a trilogy) may--like The Matrix--take all the stimulating possibilities Night Watch raises and drag them into the toilet, but for the moment, this is the sort of electric excitement that blockbuster movies promise but so rarely deliver. --Bret Fetzer

DVD Description
For as long as humanity has existed, there have been 'Others' among us: Witches, Vampires and Shape-Shifters who are soldiers in the eternal war between Light and Dark. Light Others protect mankind from Dark Others, who plague and torture humans. For over 1000 years a truce has existed, upheld by underground forces: the soldiers of the Light (NightWatch) and the soldiers of the Dark (DayWatch). Ancient prophecy foretells that one day the Great One will arrive and end the threat of an apocalyptic battle between Light and Dark Others. That day has come, and somewhere in Moscow a Nightwatch team race to find and protect the Great One from the DayWatch vampires who seek to plunge the world into darkness. Whoever reaches the Great One first will hold the balance of power in their hands and control the fate of humanity.

Synopsis
In this dark apocalyptic tale of a perpetual battle between light and dark, light being the human race and dark being a race of monsters, this film is the first of three in a trilogy. Russian director Timbor Bekmambetov adapts 'Night Watch' from the series of sci-fi novels by Sergei Lukyanenko.

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