Siddity In The City

I saw Night Watch yesterday.

It is not in fact a horror film. It certainly isn't frightening. Even the idea of Armageddon has been scrubbed nearly clean of religion or faith, and therefore, at least to my little pre-programmed mind, any real sense of meaning or urgency. It is interesting, though. It's a good-versus-evil, vampire/shapeshifter/witch and warlock film that isn't really all about CGI and gore "let's see how creatively we can kill onscreen." That's refreshing. I especially appreciate the fact that the evil doesn't turn up bearing venom-dripping fangs and spiral horns. The dark Others are your local butcher, hairdresser, pop star. On the other hand, the film took itself far too seriously and the progression of the two story arcs--the great Other who is born stronger than all Others and will have to choose which side to join (thus tipping the balance between dark and light), the cursed virgin whose appearance heralds the end times--was perfectly predictable after the first 20-30 minutes. The virgin storyline was particularly disappointing,. Eh, it's the first part of a trilogy. I imagine I'd need to see it all three films to grasp its fabulousness. I'd also like to read the Sergei Lukyanenko novels. Something tells me the bits snipped for film make all the difference to the story. Not a bad film, though. I don't regret having spent money on it, and that ain't nothin'.

posted by Sid @ 2/28/2006 11:24:00 AM