Night Watch at the Esquire

[kybearfuzz]

After work, I decided to head to a local comic book shop and then catch a matinee of Night Watch (Nochnoi Dozer) at the Esquire.

Despite an intriguing preview and some friends who told me that they couldn't wait to go see it (including my buddy Stewart, Kentucky's resident Scotsman), I was greatly disappointed. The movie is Russian made and the movie has subtitles. While there are some impressive special effects in the film, the story is confusing and the jerking camera motion with quick scene shifts made me a bit queasy. I felt like I had been dropped into the second or third movie of a series without any background. The movie introduces characters, settings, etc. with no reference to their importance. The story and its plot are just not very cohesive.

I always gauge how good a movie is by the number of times I check my watch during the film. If the movie doesn't capture my attention and interest, I find myself looking to see how much time has passed and how much I have left. I looked at the time at least 10 times during the film, wondering when it would end. I actually thought about leaving in the middle of it. This is supposed to be the first in a series of films about the characters. Oh well...

Did I enjoy it? Hardly, but the M & M's were tasty.
Would I watch it again? Only if Jeremy Piven asked me to see it with him.
Buy the DVD? As a gag gift maybe, but for myself, never.

Comments

Re: STILL ... foreign films are worth supporting.

[mikiedoggie.livejournal.com]

I had a slightly more positive review of the movie than Mark but I think his criticisms were valid. There's a lot of jerky editing, which was a stylistic choice. It doesn't work for everyone. Plus, the writing really doesn't stand up on its own as a separate film; perhaps when the other parts come out it'll look stronger. But as it is, there are some characters brought up and dropped, and one of the two main plots at the end of the movie actually becomes sort of filler unless there are ramifications in the next two movies.

I'd still recommend seeing it, but its very different in structure and pacing than most movies I've seen.