I had heard about Night Watch over the past few years,
mostly from friends who casually asked why I had not yet seen it.
I suppose watching the film never seemed overly important for me
despite the fact that it had become one of the highest grossing films
in Russia.
Enter Michael Reuben and his recent reviews of NIGHT WATCH and DAY WATCH
which I found to be quite inspiring. A few further conversations with
Michael and I am convinced these are films I need to eventually see.
The problem was the exorbitant pricetag that Fox was charging for
catalog titles. I refused to make a blind purchase at such a cost.
All that would soon change when I was able to find both films at a
bargain price.
Last evening I had the opportunity to watch Night Watch. It
begins on a high note with an immensely intense scene involving
witchcraft. However, some 20 minutes into the film I was getting
rather eager to turn it off. I don't know exactly what the problem was,
but I didn't find myself enjoying the film as much as I had hoped.
The film has some credible cinematography that I found quite interesting,
but ultimately I found the Russian language not very pleasing to the
ear, and felt that the film had a very "cheap" feel to it.
With that in mind, I decided to stay with the film for its duration and
was somewhat rewarded at the end with a story that ended with a
nice little "twist." In fact, as I got off the couch and ejected the BD
disc, I thought to myself, "not bad."
The Blu-ray presentation itself is something to behold, and certainly
one of the things that contributed to sustaining my interest through
the end. Image quality is top-notch with crisp image detail and vibrant
color saturation. The audio is an added bonus with one of the most
active surround tracks I have heard on this format to date. You can
immediately appreciate what this soundtrack offers right from the
opening scene with the witch. Hypnotic sounds and ghoulish voices
emanate from every channel, effectively hyping up the "creepiness"
factor of being placed squarely in the middle of the action. If I
found myself losing interest on what was happening on screen, my
senses continued to be entertained by the constant movement of
sound across the listening area.
All in all, I found Night Watch a worthy watch, though I
readily admit that there were factors that made me hesitant to
get through it. Putting more thought to the film one day later, I
find myself liking it more and more. I am hoping to view
Day Watch later this afternoon. I'll check back.
mostly from friends who casually asked why I had not yet seen it.
I suppose watching the film never seemed overly important for me
despite the fact that it had become one of the highest grossing films
in Russia.
Enter Michael Reuben and his recent reviews of NIGHT WATCH and DAY WATCH
which I found to be quite inspiring. A few further conversations with
Michael and I am convinced these are films I need to eventually see.
The problem was the exorbitant pricetag that Fox was charging for
catalog titles. I refused to make a blind purchase at such a cost.
All that would soon change when I was able to find both films at a
bargain price.
Last evening I had the opportunity to watch Night Watch. It
begins on a high note with an immensely intense scene involving
witchcraft. However, some 20 minutes into the film I was getting
rather eager to turn it off. I don't know exactly what the problem was,
but I didn't find myself enjoying the film as much as I had hoped.
The film has some credible cinematography that I found quite interesting,
but ultimately I found the Russian language not very pleasing to the
ear, and felt that the film had a very "cheap" feel to it.
With that in mind, I decided to stay with the film for its duration and
was somewhat rewarded at the end with a story that ended with a
nice little "twist." In fact, as I got off the couch and ejected the BD
disc, I thought to myself, "not bad."
The Blu-ray presentation itself is something to behold, and certainly
one of the things that contributed to sustaining my interest through
the end. Image quality is top-notch with crisp image detail and vibrant
color saturation. The audio is an added bonus with one of the most
active surround tracks I have heard on this format to date. You can
immediately appreciate what this soundtrack offers right from the
opening scene with the witch. Hypnotic sounds and ghoulish voices
emanate from every channel, effectively hyping up the "creepiness"
factor of being placed squarely in the middle of the action. If I
found myself losing interest on what was happening on screen, my
senses continued to be entertained by the constant movement of
sound across the listening area.
All in all, I found Night Watch a worthy watch, though I
readily admit that there were factors that made me hesitant to
get through it. Putting more thought to the film one day later, I
find myself liking it more and more. I am hoping to view
Day Watch later this afternoon. I'll check back.
