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The trilogy seems to be a sign of a rebirth of Russian cinema. After the fall of communism, the Russian film industry was left in shambles, apparently causing a majority of Russia’s theaters to be run by gangsters. Due to its box office success, Fox Searchlight acquired the U.S. rights to Dusk Watch, with the stipulation that it will be filmed in English.

That said, the film has opened to lukewarm reviews across the United States, as it has been compared to many of American films of the same theme such as Blade and Underworld.

However, Night Watch has several qualities that give it an edge over some of its American counterparts, one of which is the realism of the characters and its setting. The vampires, witches, and all the ‘Others’ in the film look bedraggled and roughčthey slam vodka as if prohibition, not apocalypse, approaches. As for the vampiresses, they look more like what Americans might refer to as crack whores rather than Kate Beckinsale.

As all films begin that deal with the battle of good and evil, Night Watch opens in the year 1342 as a bloody war rages between the forces of good and evil. Because both sides will only destroy each other, rather than overcome, the leaders of both sides make a truce. Hence, those Others that choose the side of darkness work the Day Watch and those on the side of lightness work the Night Watch in order to enforce the truce, which consists of making sure that the Dark side does not force people to choose their side or operate illegally during the day.

The majority of the film is set in modern-day Moscow and the balance has been upset by the birth of an Other, whose choice of Light or Dark will give one side more.

Like other films in the genre, Night Watch is not exempt from slight ambiguities and inconsistencies, but these may be harder to catch since we are reading subtitles. However, there is one particular instance with an airplane that is in danger due to turbulence caused by a dangerous vortex located above the building of a cursed woman (a la Ghostbusters) that is intermittently flashed back for no apparent reason. In the end, we never really find out what happens to the airplane.

Perhaps one of the best features in Night Watch is the subtitles, which are unlike any I have seen in a film. Rather than appearing at the bottom of the screen, they play more of an interactive part in the film, appearing where they would be considered most visible in relation to what is going on in any particular scene, almost as if they had a life of their own.

And when a vampiress beckons a young boy to her from afar, her subtitles appear in various places on the screen in dark red, drifting away with her voice like whispers of blood onto the screen.

Altogether, Night Watch has a great deal to offer, including excellent CGI effects that were created under a budget of $5 million. Despite similar themes to other films, Night Watch comes across as innovative and ambitious, offering audiences a different take on the war between good and evil.