Night Watch (2004 film)

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Night Watch (Nochnoy Dozor)

International poster for Night Watch
Directed by Timur Bekmambetov
Produced by Konstantin Ernst
Anatoli Maksimov
Written by Sergei Lukyanenko (novel)
Timur Bekmambetov (screenplay)
Starring Konstantin Khabensky
Mariya Poroshina
Distributed by Gemini Film (Rus)
Fox Searchlight Pictures (USA)
Release date(s) 2004-07-08 (CIS)
2005-09-02 (Spain)
2005-10-07 (UK)
2005-10-11 (Aus)
2006-02-17 (USA)
Running time 115 min.
Language Russian (all versions)
English (int'l. version, dubbed)
Budget US $4.2 million
Followed by Day Watch (Dnevnoi Dozor)
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Night Watch (Russian: Ночной дозор, Nochnoy Dozor) is a Russian fantasy action thriller film, made in 2004 by the Kazakhstan-born film director Timur Bekmambetov. It is loosely based on the novel Night Watch, and is the first part of a trilogy, followed by Day Watch and an unnamed third film (the titles of the remaining novels are Twilight Watch and Final Watch) which will be recast. Most internet resources list the third film in the series as "Dusk Watch"[citation needed].

Contents

[edit] Plot summary

Konstantin Khabensky, one of the most popular Russian actors, plays the main character, Anton Gorodetsky.
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Konstantin Khabensky, one of the most popular Russian actors, plays the main character, Anton Gorodetsky.

Living among normal are the 'Others', who possess various supernatural powers. They are divided up into the forces of light and the forces of dark, who signed a truce several centuries ago to end a devastating battle. Ever since, the forces of light govern the night while the day belongs to their dark opponents. In modern day Moscow, the dark Others roam the night as vampires and other evil nightmares, while a "Night Watch" of light forces (among them Anton, a kind of seer and the movie's main character) try to control them and limit their outrages.

[edit] Production

The film was the first big-budget Russian fantasy film and one of the first blockbusters made after the collapse of the Soviet Union film industry. The film was produced by Channel One, the government-owned TV channel, with a budget of US$4.2 million. [1] It was shot in an 1.85:1 aspect ratio.

[edit] Release and reception

Tiger Cub, played by Anna Slyusaryova
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Tiger Cub, played by Anna Slyusaryova

After a first appearance at the Moscow Film Festival on 27 June 2004, it went on general cinema release across the CIS on July 8, 2004. The film was extremely successful, becoming the highest-grossing Russian release ever, grossing US$16.7 million in Russia alone, thus making more money in Russia than The Lord of the Rings. The second part of the trilogy, Day Watch was released across the CIS on 1 January 2006, and the third part is scheduled for release in 2007. There is also a TV series in production.

The film attracted the attention of Fox Searchlight Pictures, which offered to finance the third part and bought the US distribution rights for the whole trilogy. As a consequence, the third part will be filmed in the United States, likely with other actors speaking English instead of Russian. [2]

[edit] International release

Bear, played by Aleksandr Samojlenko
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Bear, played by Aleksandr Samojlenko
Original English language poster for Night Watch
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Original English language poster for Night Watch

One year after the Russian release, the international distribution began. Other than a London premiere at the Odeon West End as part of the Frightfest horor film festival, that screened amid heavy security on the 28 August 2005, the first European country outside CIS was Spain where it was released on 2 September 2005. By mid October it had been released in most European countries, and on February 17, 2006 it had a limited release in the United States, followed by a full release on March 3. By 13 February 2006 (i.e. before the US release) it had grossed US$32 million.

The "international version" of the film debuted in the United Kingdom. The Russian voice-over has been dubbed in English in the prologue and epilogue, and features a new kind of stylized subtitles which many regard as revolutionary, "appearing in odd places around the screen, and often animated to emphasise or complement the action." In addition, many of the scenes that were present in the Russian theatrical release were omitted, while, at the same time, some scenes were recut or added. The International version is shorter by 10 minutes. Overall, it helped to make the film's plot clearer than it was in the original theatrical version, though many purists argue that the deletions subtract from the film, overall. The DVD was released in the UK on 24 April 2006.

Some of the changes to the International version:

  • The prologue of the international cut is in English and is more detailed in describing the concept of the "Others".
  • Anton is a "seer" in the international cut, who gets visions at various places in the film.
  • There are some flashbacks to the apartment of the witch Darya, where Simeon and Bear explain to Anton who the Others are.
  • The character "Ignat" who was played by Gosha Kutsenko has been cut out completely. In the Russian cut Ignat is a Light Incubus capable of seducing any woman. Geser sends Simeon to fetch Ignat in order to seduce Svetlana so that she would "relax" and lose her vortex of damnation. As Svetlana runs out of coffee, she goes to a night supermarket. Ignat meets her and accompanies her to her apartment. However, Svetlana is able to see his intentions and he fails.
  • Most of the subplot inside of the plane is missing from the international cut.
  • Most of the dialogues have been redubbed to make the plot more convenient to the international audience. Most redubs were done in scenes with Gesser and Olga.
  • A clip from the TV show Buffy The Vampire Slayer is added in the U.S. version, involving Dracula and Buffy. In the original cut, it was a clip from the Russian childrens' show Domovoy (from an episode where a titular character went up against vampires).
  • The song "Nochnoi Dozor" by the Russian band Uma2urman in the Credits has been replaced by an English-language song. In the US Version, it is "Fearless" by The Bravery, in other international releases it is "Shatter" by Feeder.

[edit] Book vs. film

Although the movie had one of the biggest budgets in the history of Russian filmmaking, there were still restraints on its content, especially given the length of the original three-hundred page, three-part book. Some of the changes made were small and insignificant; others significantly altered the nature of the plot.

[edit] Major differences

  • In the movie, the use of spells, power amulets and shapeshifting was significantly diminished compared to the book Night Watch. The Gloom, which was an important background element in the book, was barely used in the movie. The book deals with the technique of entering the Gloom by raising your shadow, the different levels within it, etc. The movie's director explained that he never liked magic, so all magical aspects were severely downplayed.
  • While the movie is an action-packed thriller-fest, the book is much more thoughtful. It's much more focused on the moral ambiguities the Night Watch is forced to face in a situation where it cannot openly oppose the Dark and are forced to run intrigues which could hurt its own members. The original version- produced by Channel One in Russia- attempts to touch on these thoughtful issues, but the international cut (also known as the Fox version) has neglected these points through editing.
  • In the movie, each Other joins either the Light or the Dark through a free choice. In the book, it's more a matter of their own nature and for some people how they're feeling when they first enter the Gloom.
  • The opening scene of the movie wasn't in the book (it's taken from Day Watch), nor was it ever mentioned or alluded to. In the movie, Anton Gorodetskiy visited a witch in hopes that she would use magic to get his wife back. In the book, this incident took place in the beginning of Day Watch, the second installment of the tetralogy, and also the witch's customer was not Anton, but a woman called Natasha who wanted to get her husband back.
  • In the movie, a passenger plane threatened to crash into a residential neighborhood due to the large Dark Vortex formed around Svetlana. In the book, the incident took place two years earlier. The plane actually wound up crashing into the neighborhood thanks to (as Anton put it) a "bureaucratic loophole". In the book, the Dark Vortex formed around Svetlana threatened to cause a disaster of nuclear proportions unless it could be "defused" in forty-eight hours.
  • In the movie, Yegor is Anton's son. In the book, they aren't related (Sergei Lukyanenko explained that this change was a result of a "glitch" in the script). In the fourth novel Last Watch, Yegor tells Anton that he had a dream in which he was Anton's son and experienced events from the movie.
  • In the movie, Yegor is the Great One whose coming was foretold, who will shift the balance of the final battle between Light and Dark. In the book, there is no such prophecy and the boy has mediocre potential. He's just a pawn the Dark put into the game to distract Anton from Svetlana, the true focus of the struggle, who really does have incredible powers.
  • In the movie, Alyssa showed Yegor and Anton that back in 1992, Anton was willing to kill Yegor (who was an unborn child at the time). This effectively led Yegor to choose the Dark. In the book, Alyssa forced Anton to tell Yegor the whole truth. This forced Anton to reveal that Yegor was manipulated by the Light Others for the sake of the greater good. Yegor leaves the roof, disgusted with both the Light and the Dark. For the moment, his future is uncertain (he remains absolutely neutral).(But is recognized as dark in night watch book 2 "among my own kind" where the maverick is drawn to him as one of his victims, though he does eventually sustain a neutral bias.)

[edit] Trivia

  • In a behind-the-scenes article, Sergey Lukyaninko explained that the filmmakers originally wanted to depict the Gloom closer to the way it was in the book. However, after the Fellowship of the Ring movie came out, the filmmakers realized that the original take on the Gloom was strikingly similar to the shadowy realm Frodo entered every time he put on the ring. Thus, the depiction of the Gloom was altered to avoid accusations of plagiarism.
  • The song playing during the credits of Night Watch is "Fearless", by The Bravery, a popular American Alternative Rock band from New York City. The song is not present in the original version released in Russia - instead, the song "Nochnoy Dozor" by Russian band Umaturman is played there. Alternatively, in the UK version, the song "Shatter" by Feeder plays.

[edit] External links

[edit] Official sites

[edit] Fan Sites

[edit] References