Big Picture Big Sound

The Film

Kazakhstan-born director Timur Bekmambetov's Night Watch, based on the novel by Russian author Sergei Lukyanenko, was a box office sensation in its native Russia. Filmed on a budget of only U.S. $4.2 million, it was heralded as the first post-Soviet blockbuster action-fantasy film in Russia and arrived with great success. In truth, viewing Night Watch is quite inspiring; the film successfully mimics the more overt characteristics of big-budget Hollywood fare although produced under constrained financial means while being firmly grounded in Russian culture for an entirely unique experience.

Night Watch opens on a scene of battle taking place a millennia ago between the forces of Light and Darkness -- supernatural humans known as Others, such as shape-shifters, witches, seers and vampires who live among us -- to determine which side shall rule over the world for all eternity. The battle ends with neither side victorious, thus a truce is called and both sides agree that in order to maintain the balance watches would be formed. Night Watch was formed to watch over the Warriors of Darkness and Day Watch to watch over the Protectors of Light.

The film then jumps forward to 1992, Moscow, where a man name Anton (Konstantin Khabensky) is seen consulting an old woman, who turns out to be a "Dark Other" witch. Anton's girlfriend has left him for another man, and the witch promises him she can punish her infidelities by killing the unborn child in her womb, but only if he takes the responsibilities for the evil all on to himself. He agrees, but just then a group from Night Watch busts in and arrests the witch. Anton, however, is revealed himself as an Other.

From there the story becomes a bit convoluted and somewhat hard to follow. The film once again flashes forward another 12 years and Anton,having chosen the side of Light is now an agent in Night Watch. He becomes embroiled in a  dangerous situation when he is assigned by Gesar (Vladimir Menshov), leader of the Light Others, to save a young boy named Yegor (Demitri Martynov) who is being called by the voice of a Dark Other. While trailing the boy on the subway, Anton spots a woman, Svetlana (Mariya Poroshina) with a swirling vortex over her head. The Others know this to be the sign of a prophecy heralding he arrival of a Great Other who will tip the balance of Light and Dark by choosing one side over the other and ending the truce forever. During his assignment to protect young Yegor, Anton also commits the taboo offense of killing a Dark Other, which is a violation of the truce, and causes Zavulon (Viktor Verzhbitsky), leader of the Dark Others, to seek a warrant for his death. While trying to avoid capture by the Day Watch, Anton must help find the woman with the vortex over her head to save the world from destruction and, as it turns out, keep Yegor from the hands of the Dark Others as well.

Night Watch's various and sundry plot elements can sometimes become difficult to follow and, frankly, somewhat silly. The film is marketed as being scary, but, in all honesty, I wasn't frightened in the slightest while watching it. The numerous special effects sequences which work well and look better than some Hollywood features I've seen is a testament to the ingenuity of the filmmakers and their ability to squeeze such a mildly stylized film out of such a minuscule budget.  I have to admit, even apart from the obvious good versus evil plot and common fantasy inhabitants, Night Watch kept me interested throughout of most of its 2-hours. However, the film's often confusing story coupled with its tendency to drag keep it from being a transcendent piece of work. Night Watch doesn't ever deliver the payoff you expect in a film like this. It moves at one slow pace and even its finale leaves one wanting. Still, there is far worse out there and knowing that this is the first in a trilogy, I will say there have been far worse trilogies as well.  If you have an open mind for film outside of the Hollywood vocabulary, then maybe you should take a look at this, just don't expect the same sort of results as you would from a true Hollywood blockbuster.  

The Picture

Night Watch appears on BD in its original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1 in an AVC/MPEG-4 encoding. The transfer itself does not display any compression artifacts or processing issues such as edge enhancement or jaggies. Although black levels and shadow details are mostly good there are just a few instances where blacks either wash out slightly or crush slightly, but it is a rare occurrence. Detail is relatively consistent as well, with a fine level of grain structure apparent throughout, but occasionally the picture softens a bit.

The film's overall look is slightly de-saturated and takes place mostly in the gloom of night, so colors don't ever leap from the screen, but they are accurately presented and flesh tones are natural with no red push. Night Watch is an above average transfer that many will be happy viewing.

The Sound

Night Watch comes with its original language Russian track in a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix in addition to English DTS 5.1 and French Dolby Digital 5.1 dubbed options. I listened to Russian track with English subtitles for the purposes of this review and it was quite well done. The dialogue is kept to the center channel, naturally, and is always intelligible if a little on the dull sounding side. However, there is a great abundance of ambience mixed into the surrounds and left and right front channels giving the mix a spacious sound. Discrete foley effects and musical sound effects from the film's soundtrack often find there way into the surround channels for a moody feeling that matches the film's tonality.

Overall mastering tends to emphasize the high frequencies a tad, leading the musical soundtrack's many heavy metal pieces sounding a bit "tizzy". There is good use of the lower frequencies in the action scenes, giving weighty and sometimes rumbling bass frequencies. Through it all, the dialogue is never overwhelmed. I'd say this is a very competent, if not reference quality mix.

The Extras

• Commentary by Timor Bekmambetov -- The directror's commentary is unbearably dull as he meticulously points out every small detail about filming and goes on continuously and repetitively about the importance of bringing small details pertenat to Russina culture into the film.
• Subtitled Commentary by Novelist Sergei Lukyaneko
• Deleted Scenes (with Optional Russian Audio and Optional Commentary by Timur Bekmambetov (4:3/windowboxed/standard definition/ DTS 5.1) -- Seven deleted scenes from the film, including an extended ending,  that do not augment the film's plot in any way.
• Characters, Story and Subtitles -- In this brief featurette the filmmakers discuss adapting the novel into a screenplay and transl;ating the Russian dialogue into English subtitles.
• The Making of Night Watch (4:3/standard definition) -- This somewhat detailed making-of featurette finds director Timor Bekmambetov discussing many aspects of the movie's filming and special effects. Rather interestingly, Bekmambetov reveals that there were 48 visual versions of "the gloom" that were tried before settling on the one used in the film.
• Night Watch Trilogy (4:3/standard definition) -- The director details the evolution of bringing the Sergei Lukyaneko trilogy to the big screen in this behind-the-scenes featurette that feels more like a promotional spot than anything else.
• Comic Book Still Gallery (4:3/standard definition) -- This is a self-playing graphic novel based on Night Watch.
• Poster Gallery (4:3/standard definition) -- A slideshow of promotional posters for Night Watch.
• Theatrical Trailer (1.78:1/high definition) -- The original theatrical trailer
• Fox on Blu-ray (high definition) -- High definition trailers for select Fox Blu-ray releases:
  • Day Watch
  • Alien vs. Predator
  • From Hell
  • The Fly
  • Man on Fire
  • Sunshine
• D-Box -- This release is D-Box motion code enabled for all users with D-Box systems in their home theater setups.
  

Final Thoughts

Although Night Watch was certainly a triumphant arrival for Russian cinema, it is difficult to see its more fantastic elements as anything more than a mélange of Hollywood themes repackaged for Eastern European sensibilities. While it is encouraging to see filmmakers outside of the Hollywood juggernaut be successful and Night Watch certainly has its enjoyable moments, it never attains the heights those of us trained on films such as The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter have come to expect in this genre. This BD release, on the other hand, is deservedly well done and most definitely aids in the enjoyment of this film. If you are hesitant to purchase this release, then at the very least try it out as a rental, because its picture and audio quality will not disappoint.

Where to Buy

• Night Watch: Unrated on Blu-ray Disc (Amazon.com)

Product Details

• Actors: Konstantin Khabensky, Vladimir Menshov, Valeri Zolotukhin, Mariya Poroshina, Galina
• Directors: Timur Bekmambetov
• Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Audio/Languages: Russian DTS-HD MAster Audio 5.1, English DTS 5.1, French Dolby Digital 5.1
• Subtitles: English, Cantonese, Korean, Spanish
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Region: A
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: Unrated
• Studio: 20th Century Fox
• Blu-ray Disc Release Date: September 9, 2008
• Run Time: 114 minutes
• List Price: $39.98
• Extras:
  • Commentary by director Timur Bekmambetov
  • Subtitled  Commentary by Novelist Sergei Lukyaneko
  • Extended Ending and Deleted Scenes with Optional Commentary by Timur Bekmambetov
  • The Making of Night Watch Documentary
  • Characters, Story, and Subtitles featurette
  • Night Watch Trilogy featurette
  • Enhanced for D-Box Motion Control Sysytems
  • Still Galleries
  • Theatrical Trailer