Lots of people have been getting pretty excited about this one. It's like Constantine, but Russian... sorta.

Saw it the other day and really enjoyed it. This has a darker feel to it I think. More violent and also more character driven I feel. From what I could hear from other people while leaving the cinema, you other really like this movie or feel really disapointed. There were also some tards who were like "omg it was in Russian... subtitles too fast for my fourth grade brain to read XD" :p
So yeah, I really liked it, especially the way the subtitles interacted with the movie. The movie was totally recut and edited for the Western release, so I'd be very interested to see it in its Russian form. Had pretty cool music to it as well, although apparently it is different from the original Russian release.

So what'd everyone else think? I personally can't wait for the next two movies to come out. 2006 and 2007 is so long away :(

When I first went into the movie, I thought it was a high budget hollywood film... the subtitles gave me quite a suprise.

I enjoyed it a lot... the end seemed to drag on for a bit though, that would be my only complaint. Lots of awesome idea's and trippy effects... a bit different to what you normally on the big screen. Music was great too.

I was really looking forward to this movie but subtitles :( I read way too slowly & spend half the movie reading the damn subtitles. A CURSE ON MY RETARDED BRAIN

I was wondering if this was gonna have subtitles or not...kinda bummed out that it does (havnt seen it yet) but people are claiming that this trilogy is gonna be up there with LOTR and the original Star wars....any truth to this??

LOTR was a real commercial trilogy i reckon which was custom moulded for the masses. but anyway subtitles aren't too bad. at least you dont have to watch an american film that would have cost 100 times as much
http://www.bbc.co.uk/films/2005/09/19/timur_bekmambetov_night_watch_interview.shtml

The CGI for Night Watch is an example. There were more than 400 CGI shots in the movie, but we didn't have a big studio with CGI departments in Moscow. So we decided to create our own mass community over the internet to produce the CGI.

heh, that's pretty cool

Music in the trailer is by M83 so maybe it is the same throughout the movie. M83 are awesome btw. And I can't wait to see this.

i got the dvd for that about 6 months ago and loved it.. waiting anxiously for the sequels

Trailer i saw had the bravery as the music.

I love it when people complain about subtitles......

Wankers!!!

I love it when people complain about subtitles......

Wankers!!!

Why do you say that?

Its an action movie with subtitles, can't see the problem there.

Why do you say that?

Well for me it is as if they are saying "Oh they don't speak english.. as if I would bother..."

People dismiss an entire movie because of the language barrier.

A) they usually have subtitles and if you can read then I don't see the problem and B) you can still watch a movie without knowing the words spoken. I watch Sholin Soccer without any subtitles or dubbing.... still got the jist of it.

Think outside the square I say and if you don't like it... well it is just a movie

I watch Naruto and Bleach religiously so sublitles are hardly noticed anymore; its a second nature. If you suck at reading fast: TRAIN! read more, watch fansubs, read comics!

Just watched the trailer. It looks awesome. I might check it out sometime this week.

last edited by AdamtehGreat at 16:04:19 15/Oct/05

Overall, the movie lacked from an experiance director and film editor. It introduced about a dozen different story elements and then did nothing with many of them. It introduced new characters for what feels like one every other minute in the first half of the movie and didn't exploit any of them. The interlinking between scenes and plot was worse than 1st year film students.

There where many awesome concepts bought into the movie, but they just didn't do anything with them. All in all it felt like I was watching a 2 hours of presentations by first year students.

Sequels typo, SEQUELS!

last edited by Protius at 16:28:42 15/Oct/05

I got dragged along to this last night and honestly thought it was one of the worst movies I've ever seen.

I have no problem with films from overseas, infact I have a few favourites which aren't hollywood bulls*** but wow this was just crap.

Storylines which went nowhere, eg Olga. Story points which made absolutely no sense - the powerplant blows up but after they stop the virgin all the power comes back on?

Also the product placement s*** me to f***ing tears, anyone want a warm cup of nescafe?

The only single redeeming fact of this movie was the ending, wasn't the usual hollywould crap.

I'll go put on some sunglasses now mang.

its a second nature.

Well i find listening is first nature.

read comics!

You are so learned.

last edited by Bah at 16:35:13 15/Oct/05

I watch Sholin Soccer without any subtitles or dubbing.... still got the jist of it.

that's cause shaolin soccer didn't have a real plot... neither do any of stephen chow's movies for that matter (maybe except for the saint of gamblers series)

So many unconvential and interesting ideas that ultimately failed in their execution.

Put it this way, when the motivations of the protagonist are so weak and the history of the truce/war between light and dark is almost humourous, you know you're up for a weak film.

Though much respect for trying to be unconventional. Maybe with the second film, they'll improve...

The ending, though different from 'Hollywood' endings (though that's debatable considering it's a trilogy) was so incredibly poorly executed. I understand what they were attempting to do but it just didn't seem to work.

If there was one thing that stood out as different but misguided, it would have to be the video game/cg scenes. It hasn't worked for most films and it didn't work here. There are far better ways to express the intention of those scenes.

One idea that worked were the subtitles. They were clever and well executed.

For those that want to see the film, do not sit close to the screen. It's Battlefield Earth 'shaky uneccessary cuts and angles' cinematography worthy.


Thankfully there weren't any M83 tracks (none that I recognised) in the film apart from the trailer. They deserve better.

I'd be suprised if this 'trilogy' were to come close to the acclaim generated by some such as Star Wars Ep 1,2,3 and the Matrix...




last edited by treeoflife at 17:24:19 15/Oct/05

Well for me it is as if they are saying "Oh they don't speak english.. as if I would bother..."

People dismiss an entire movie because of the language barrier.

A) they usually have subtitles and if you can read then I don't see the problem and B) you can still watch a movie without knowing the words spoken. I watch Sholin Soccer without any subtitles or dubbing.... still got the jist of it.

Think outside the square I say and if you don't like it... well it is just a movie

weren't you the one crying ZOMG COME TO MAH COUNTREH YEW MUST SPEAKS TEH ENGLISH!!!oneoneone

well, you screen a movie in my country you must put that movie in my language....it's different yes but not THAT much different. The people are projected onto a screen rather than standing in front of me.

stfu kat (wow first time I've ever said that)

Its made as a trilogy of three movies though, could that be why some of the plots doing go anywhere? Maybe they're setups for what happens in the next two parts? I dunno, I'm not defending it cos I haven't seen it, but I'm just wondering if that explains the problems or if it really is just a poorly written/directed movie.

I'm not a huge fan of movies with subtitles at the cinemas, mainly because I find I can either focus on the subtitles and read them, or focus on the action and watch it, but not do both at the same time. On tv and stuff is not so bad, the screen is small enough to take it all in at once, but I find on the big screen I just can't focus on both at once and I inevitably end up missing stuff.

If you're interested in the narrative and plot of Nightwatch and how it compares to the novels, head over to this thread on IMDB.

Normally the IMDB forums are a cesspool but this thread manages to be useful and coherent.

Well i find listening is first nature.

And I bet you never read novels either

You are so learned.

Learned in what? Reading comics?

I can't see why everyone bitches about reading anyway. I mean, this IS a forum where I'm sure 99% of us can read. It's certainly not an excuse not to watch something, but I guess the people who know that are the people who actually watch subtitled stuff :/

weren't you the one crying ZOMG COME TO MAH COUNTREH YEW MUST SPEAKS TEH ENGLISH!!!oneoneone

I fail to see how you can compare moving and naturalising to a foreign film

So what you are saying is you don't mind people talking in their own language so long as you can understand it.

B) you can still watch a movie without knowing the words spoken. I watch Sholin Soccer without any subtitles or dubbing.... still got the jist of it.

Haha so youre Im not the only one who downloaded the non subbed version of the movie and decided to still watch it. It was good.

Its made as a trilogy of three movies though, could that be why some of the plots doing go anywhere? Maybe they're setups for what happens in the next two parts?

No, the division of story isn't like that. They introduce new characters with really interesting beginnings of subplots and then do nothing with them, literally nothing.

Someone mentioned Olga before, she is a good example of how they do nothing with interesting characters. Her introduction is bought on by a shift in the protagonists direction in the plot, instead of being a drunken bum who hates everything about himself and his position has taken it upon himself to defend an innocent from being eaten by bad people. The leader of the good people decides that he is too noob to survive without real training so gives him a partner, Olga.

Olga’s introduction is kinda cool and interesting. It is alluded to that she is built for fighting (the tv scene) and that she has endured painful punishments for past deeds. Then, she does essentially nothing for the rest of the movie.

I dunno, I'm not defending it cos I haven't seen it, but I'm just wondering if that explains the problems or if it really is just a poorly written/directed movie.

I have seen movies that have been designed to run in trilogies or in series and this isn’t the case here. It really looks like it was designed by committee, with the inclusion of what feels like every single cool sequence/plot/story/character from the comic book (I assume there is one). I can’t fathom the level of s*** that must have hit the cutting room floor.

I mean, I can live with disjointed and poorly written pieces of s***, I watched Timeline for f*** sakes. This however was amateurish at best.

## Edit: In reflection you could have removed every other good guy character (other than the protaganist) from the movie and replaced them with no-name extra's and it would have made the movie better.


last edited by typo at 01:23:53 16/Oct/05

so this movie is completely subtitled ?

no, we're all just kidding around just to fool you paveway

so this movie is completely subtitled ?

IIRC the narrator in the intro is in english.

typo, it really sounds like you're describing the Matrix... Introducing interesting characters that spend five minutes on screen then disappear. Yep that sounds like the matrix to me :) I haven't had a chance to see this on the big screen yet. I wonder how much is cut from the original version, and whether that makes a big difference in terms of plot and characters. If you cut say 15 minutes from a movie to go for that audience pleasing 95 minutes running time you could sacrifice a lot that helps the movie make sense. Although... maybe it wasn't cut (or not much)

I thought it was pretty good. Not great but pretty good and I'll definately check out the rest of the trilogy. I didn't have too much of a problem with the subtitles - if you've watched any SBS movies or some anime you shouldn't have a huge problem.

Some parts were a bit rushed but I'm guessing that they'll be filled in during the sequels. I'll probably need to watch it again to grasp the plot but it might just be easier to read the book...

Reading other reviews on the net, it seems that this is one that you either love or hate - there's not much middle ground.

as oppose to partial subtitles whoop you f***ing twit, i thought some of it might have been english

typo, it really sounds like you're describing the Matrix... Introducing interesting characters that spend five minutes on screen then disappear. Yep that sounds like the matrix to me :)

Not really, no. The Matrix was not a stellar example of plot and story devices, but in comparison to Nightwatch it was a masterpiece of modern theatre.

I haven't had a chance to see this on the big screen yet. I wonder how much is cut from the original version, and whether that makes a big difference in terms of plot and characters. If you cut say 15 minutes from a movie to go for that audience pleasing 95 minutes running time you could sacrifice a lot that helps the movie make sense. Although... maybe it wasn't cut (or not much)

No, this isn’t a case of a couple of “huh, wtf was that? Oh I’m sure it will make sense in the directors cut”; the only way they could utilise all of the elements they introduce into the movie would be to make a series out of it.

Oh, and as a side point, maybe you should wait until you see the f***ing movie to defend it.

It's a Russian reflection of American film culture. It's got our unique way but is a reflection of the genre movie.

there you go, it has got the unique russian way. not meaning this movie goes from finish to start but i guess you'd have to have grown up in a russian culture to fully enjoy it, and not an american one.

Ummm I reckon it had a bit too much of everything...

Spoiler!

a few things unexplained, and how does one damn himself to be the vortex, movie didn't explain it to be possible... ( i had the idea that an "other" had to do it. ) also didn't go into too much detail of what exactly happens when the vortex wasn't ended... But yeah strange movie, needed more f***ing action and piss off all that Tekken bulls*** at the end O_o.

cheers.

Who said I haven't seen the movie? I haven't seen the *Australian cinema release*. That's why I was saying I wonder how much had changed from the original version.

Who said I haven't seen the movie? I haven't seen the *Australian cinema release*. That's why I was saying I wonder how much had changed from the original version.

Unless the "International Warez Release" is 9 hours long, I don't see how it would help much.

Actually there's a Russian movie shop near where I work at the gabba. And of course amazon and ebay sell stuff as do a number of cult movie websites.

Anyway, the original is roughly two hours long. Since most movies tend to run about 95 minutes I was kinda expecting there to be anything up to 15 minutes worth of cuts. Which would make a heck of a difference story wise.

Which would make a heck of a difference story wise.

Nightwatch at indro has a running time of 114 minutes. It is a broken piece of s*** movie made by novices.

( i had the idea that an "other" had to do it. )

she is an other

Also, the cuts were stuff that only related to Russian culture, like a subplot about a Russian movie star that no Western audiences would have recognised. Stuff like that. Didn't make much of a difference to the overall story I'm pretty sure.