Night Watch (Nochnoi Dozor)

Anyone else see this Russian/cult flick? I was dragged to a showing of this past Saturday and am now glad that I was.

It's a different movie, not quite what one would expect from a vampire flick. (Thanks to Underworld, or rather thanks to Kate Beckinsale, I've a bit of a guilty pleasure regarding vampire movies, but I still try to avoid most of them.) Even after seeing it, I'd say it's a vampire flick only technically and more is a story of Light vs. Dark -- though not necessarily Good vs. Evil. The film has it's "you gotta be kidding me" and like hokey moments, but unlike other film travesties that suffer from this, it's obvious the director was doing it as a joke and not seriously. (If you've seen the trailers, then you've seen one of these moments -- when the panel truck has flame shoot out of the exhaust when hard accelerating and managing to do a flip with a braking maneuver to avoid hitting a pedestrian.) Subsequently, this flick is hardly a horror and should be considered a bit of a dark comedy (though not all that dark).

There were definite East European film moments to it ala Emir Kusturica's Black Cat, White Cat(Crna macka, beli macor) meets Hollywood that gives it a cult flavor that sets it apart, but makes you like it.

Some of the key moments had very predictable outcomes, and though one of my friends complained about it, I don't think such were detractions thanks to the rest of the feel to the film (the director not trying to be too serious). I went in to see the film knowing that it was the beginning of a trilogy, so maybe that's why some of these instances, esp. the end, didn't bother me. I understand the sequel is coming out soon in Russia and probably here quite a while later.

So, anyone else see this movie?

- JP