A brilliant film that helped define a genre

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

I saw this in the theater when it first came out. So that might be the reason I love it so much. It was an amazing theater experience. I ended up purchasing this film, the sequel (Day Watch: which is just as good as Night Watch), & the novels. I would suggest watching Night Watch & Day Watch together. They are really perfect as one whole story. I am a huge horror/fantasy/sci-fi fan boy.......This is a stellar movie regardless of my preference, but having love for this genre really does elevate the material. Great story, great cast, & beautifully made. Even to this day, the look & feel of the film is on point. Please Enjoy!! I highly recommend this with the sequel Day Watch.............

Night Watch is one of those movies that teeters on the border of the horror genre and overlaps into fantasy or sci-fi. It is one of those rare movies where the cgi is actually a benefit. The dark imagery and sleek style alone make this film distinct. Even the subtitles are animated with such care that I was blown away by the attention to overall detail. In this respect, the subsequent Day Watch really dropped the ball. The story in Night Watch is complex and layered such that you can almost justify alternate meanings to the plot. Here I saw parallel universes where the past is ongoing aligned with the present. Adding to the mood of the film was the beautiful Russian dialect. Never watch a dubbed film. It ruins the essence entirely. The direction was eloquent and flowed like paint on canvas, the acting was believable, lighting was adequate, coloration was intense, there was constant movement, and the cgi was visually stunning. This is one of my favorite films and I have only seen the version mass marketed to the US. I understand there is a superior version marketed abroad.

I have to say, expecting nothing, knowing nothing, I was impressed. This is one of those rare hidden treasures to run across, in its chaotic unnerving kind of way.If you liked Let the Right One in, Hellboy, Neverwhere, and some of the more offbeat horror noir, like Close Your Eyes, this one should appeal to you.There's a minor thematic anti-abortion, understandable if you consider Russia's population decline, but I suspect that's what earned the film its haters. That said, the criticisms are pretty off base, the acting is quite good. There's an intentional dry-noir feel, and something of a chaotic world out of control that you get from a film like District 9. This is a lower budget film, so don't expect any serious cgi etc., but for classic noir fans, it's not needed, and probably wouldn't help.Overall it stacks up favorably against most good vs evil battles in that the characters and events have something real about them, not just strict servants of the story arc that you find so often in horror.I was pleasantly surprised, anyway.

I've been a fan of speculative fiction for quite a long time, no matter that books or movies, I just love them. I read the Night Watch novel not long ago and despite of liking fantasy less than the other genres under the umbrella of speculative fiction, I found this book extremely enjoyable, the story is great, smart and thought-provoking, the characters are interesting, the sophisticated fight between the Night and Day Watches is truly fascinating.So I decided to check out the movie as I guessed that such a great story couldn't be messed up. Maybe I was never so wrong. The story is only loosely connected the original, the once amazing and complex story was simplified to a silly, discursive plot; the once cool and special members of the watches were turned into a bunch of laughable idiots. And this newly added cheesy father-son relationship is physically painful. The only real good thing in the movie is the soundtrack. I'm truly interested what Mr. Lukyanenko thinks of this adaptation, but maybe he can be more forgiving as the movie brought him international popularity. An advice for you: pick the book!