Night Watch (2005)

Premiere
3 stars out of 4 -- "Bekmambetov delivers a manic shocker that grows more compelling as it increases in ridiculousness..." 03/01/2006 p.43-44

New York Times
"[T]he story has been stylishly brought to the screen....It bursts with a sick, carnivorous glee in its own fiendish games." 02/17/2006 p.E14

Total Film
4 stars out of 5 -- "Whip-fast, bonkers and sometimes completely incomprehensible....[A] stylish riff on vampire mythology..." 06/01/2006 p.120

Ultimate DVD
4 stars out of 5 -- "[A] cryptic but giddyingly inventive Russian fantasy..." 08/01/2006 p.97

Uncut
4 stars out of 5 -- "A milestone in Russian cinema....Energetic..." 10/01/2007 p.131

Chicago Sun-Times 6 of 10
I confess to a flagging interest in the struggle between the forces of Light and Darkness. It's like Super Sunday in a sport I do not follow, like tetherball. We're told the future of the world hangs in the balance, and then everything comes down to a handful of hung-over and desperate characters surrounded by dubious special effects...One interesting quality of the film is its use of characters who seem as if they might actually live in Moscow. They have a careworn look. Most Light vs. Darkness movies involve elaborate wardrobes, as if, between Apocalypsi, the warriors refit at a custom leather shop. But the Others look scruffy, drink vodka and blood more or less interchangeably, and speed around the city not in a customized Vampiremobile but in a truck of the sort used to transport refrigerated meat...The subtitles for the movie rise to the occasion, literally. They do not simply materialize at the bottom of the screen, but unspool dynamically, dance across the picture, evaporate, explode, quiver and seem possessed. Not since a modern benshi version of the Mexican silent classic "The Grey Automobile" (1919) have I seen such subtitles. Benshis, of course, were the Japanese performers who stood next to the screen during silent films and explained the plot to the audience. If ever a benshi were needed in a modern movie, "Night Watch" is that film. - Roger Ebert
 
ReelViews 7 of 10
There are many words that could be used to describe Night Watch, but "conventional" and "dull" are not among them. The film has the twin virtues of being bold and dizzying, but it features a cramped and chaotic narrative that concludes with a climax that doesn't justify the build-up. The greatest disappointment with Night Watch is that, at a critical juncture, it fizzles. Instead of the epic resolution we are led to expect, the production delivers an expedient, unsatisfying finale - one that promises more to come in the second volume of a planned cinematic trilogy...I would be remiss not to mention some associations with Star Wars. Although George Lucas' saga was not the first to tinker with the idea of balance in a cosmic force, it's a touchstone for a generation, and some of its ideas are replicated here, although in different circumstances...As a stand-alone film, Night Watch has enough problems for me to straddle the fence on a recommendation. It may be that Night Watch will work better once the other two chapters are available but, for the moment, I have only this segment to judge. The film will find favor with a small, core audience, but it has little (if any) mainstream appeal. It's an interesting failure that leaves me intrigued, but not impatient, to see what comes next. - James Berardinelli