Night Watch (2004)

Night Watch

I rented this movie about two weeks ago and it sat on my table. It took me taking a trip to NC and sitting around bored after all had gone to bed to finally be ready to watch it.

The Good:
The shots in the film were incredible. The framing, the use of angles and movement, all wonderful.
The CG was the perfect amount and soooooo well done.
The plot was really neat and the themes in the film were explored in a fascinating way.
I loved the pacing in this movie, it felt dead on to me.
You have to watch the subtitled version (not sure if there is a dubbed one). The subtitles are used in such a fantastic way to intregrate into the story.

The Bad:
Let me watch it a second time and maybe I'll have something for you.

Overall: I wasn't ready for this movie to be so good. I... get ready... I LOVED NIGHTWATCH. I am so impressed with this movie. Part of it I am sure is the fact I have seen so many terrible movies recently, especially bad vampire movies. And part of it was that my expectations were so low I'm sure. I have to give this one a Fight Club for its genre, highly recommended.

Daywatch (2006)

Daywatch

The Good:
I enjoy the world in this series. The dark vs light universe in these movies is a bit light-hearted and yet very gritty.
The special effects were very cool.
The story was decent, though not nearly as good as the first film.
The characters are pretty interesting.
I love the weirdness of Russian cinema.

The Bad:
It didn't flow like the first film did. It didn't really hit its stride until about 45 minutes in it (the film is 2 hours and 20 minutes long).
A few of the actors were annoying.
Some of the plot elements were lacking.
Sadly, I watched the dubbed version of the film. Part of the coolness of the first movie was the artistic way the subtitles were presented.

Overall: This trilogy would have made a fantastic television series. I enjoy Day Watch a lot, but it was nowhere nearly the film Nightwatch was.