Nochnoj Dozor (aka Night Watch) -- For the love of god, see this movie!

[Latte Thunder]

I was just turned on to this flick yesterday and I'm compelled to spread the word about it. It's a Russian horror/fantasy and it kicks ass. Apparently, this was a big deal in the former Soviet Republic, a massive blockbuster like no other grossing $15 million (ha!)!

It revolves around several central storylines: Since man can remember, the battle of good and evil has been ragin just under the radar of normal human perception. Warriors from both sides are fighting a secret war that has been at a stalemate for thousands of years. A thousand years ago, the two main forces met on the battlefield and fought, neither side gaining the upper hand, so the generals of light and dark, realizing the nature of their power, stopped the fighting and made a pact that neither side would try and destroy the other since it was pointless. To police each other, they formed the Night and Day Watches, a system of checks and balances to make sure neither side was moving on the other and that no humans were caught in the crossfire. However, there is a wild card in this war, an unaligned force called The Other which would eventually be born into a human and will decide the fate of the war by which side he chooses to align with.

Enter Anton, a hapless loser whose wife has left him for another guy and is knocked up. He is dragged into the war when he contacts a witch who will force his wife back to him and destroy the child, however, before she can finish her spell, the Night Watch intervenes by stopping her and accidentally gets Anton involved in their fight. He now takes on vampiric aspects and spends his nights policing the forces of darkness.

Meanwhile, the other members of the Night Watch struggle to contain a massive curse contained inside a woman who brings disaster with her wherever she goes.

The story is awesome, the special effects are great and there's a good deal of action. It reeks of American influence, but the backstory and imagination that went into it and the special abilities of Night Watch are very cool. It's available currently only in a Region 5 disc, but it's worth hunting down. Also, in the near future, Fox will be distributing it in the US. Whether they're releasing it theatrically or strictly to DVD is beyond me.

Definitely check this one out.

[Latte Thunder]

Just a reminder, this is being released here in the states.

Here's the trailer. http://www.apple.com/trailers/fox_searc ... ght_watch/

[llapman]

Yeah, i've been all over AICN looking at the trailer for awile noew, and I can't wait. Maybe it will show up at SIFF if i'm lucky.

C-YA