Night Watch / Day Watch (aka Nochnoy dozor / Dnevnoy dozor)

Objective Rating (How much merit I think it deserves):
6.5/10
Subjective Rating (How much I personally like it):
6.5/10

Year released: 2004, 2006
Runtime: 114, 132 minutes
IMDB page: here, here

This is supposed be the trilogy based on the popular Sergei Lukyanenko fantasy novels, but the last installment, Twilight Watch, is still being made. The films were great box-office smashing hits in Russia. And I can see why.

Plot: Anton is persuaded by a witch to curse his wife, who left him, supposedly pregnant with another man's child. This will come to have great repercussions on the Balance between Light and Dark. Through this incident, Anton becomes an Other (humans with supernatural powers who can enter the Gloom, a dimension superimposed on reality). He is on the side of Light and becomes part of the Night Watch (Light Others who make sure the Dark Others don't do anything out of line. Similarly, the Day Watch are Dark Others who monitor the Light Others' activities). The two sides keep a precarious Balance. It is prophesied that a great one will come and break the Balance, because he will choose one side over the other.

Cast: I'm not familiar with the Russian cast, but I'm impressed that they got everyone from Night Watch to come back for Day Watch, the sequel.

Script: The trilogy has been compared to Lord of the Rings, mostly because it earned more at the box office in Russia than LOTR. But the story is a bit more twisted and is like a mystery sometimes. And it actually makes sense at the end in terms of causality of events and the clever little clues that they left throughout the movies, so rewatch values greatly increase.

Production: It has a very gritty feel, exposing the less glamourous side of vampires and shapeshifters and other supernatural beings. The Night Watch drives a beat-up little van around that looks like the van from Ghost Busters. Their uniform looks a lot like Bill Murray's too. The fantasy elements are very much present, but the characters live in dingy little apartments, hold meetings in dingy little offices, have little problems like trying to quit smoking or ... bad hair and shedding. And you'd never know what kind of cool but destructive visual effects you can get from playing with a yo-yo.

I'm a bit pleasantly surprised with how much I liked the movies. Well, you have to be able to stand subtitles, because they certainly don't speak English.