"Night Watch" is far more entertaining than many of its American counterparts in the "secret underground world of vampires and good vs. evil" genre. Unlike "Underworld" and "Constantine" it kept my attention throughout, but still this Russian smash is severely flawed.

First, let's applaud the good parts. "Night Watch" is distinctly Russian. Moscow is presented as a vibrant mix of modern metropolis and Gothic-style throwback to the middle ages. The plot, heavily steeped in its own fabricated mythology from a series of popular books, also serves on some level as an allegory for the fall of Communism and the rise of Capitalism. In my mind, the forces of "dark" forced underground are the Communists, while the forces of "light" (whose HQ is fronted by the City Electric Company) are the Capitalists, who often get caught up in their own bureaucracy in their vain attempts to keep the peace and not violate the truce. Some of the special effects and modern riffs on vampirism are highly imaginative and disarming (I loved "The Gloom" aspect). The American distributors also deserve some credit for their creative use of subtitles which often become part of the scene without ever distracting from the visuals.

Unfortunately, the director is clearly a veteran of music videos, and he makes the action sequences hyper kinetic and often incoherent. When he does manage to create an alluring visual, he quick-cuts, and you wish he would've had the patience to hold some of the shots longer. This hectic visual style is evident in the plotting as well, which clearly is setting up for sequels with the introduction of many characters, though some of the subplots (especially involving the cursed virgin woman and her evil vortex) seemed unnecessary. Likewise, the rushed finale seemed oddly anti-climatic and didn't pack the wallop I feel the filmmakers intended.

Despite the flaws, I will eagerly await the American distribution of the sequels, and I suppose that is the greatest compliment a film like this can receive.

Night Watch seems to be one of those love it or hate it films, and it is easy to see why. For this viewer, it has a fair bit to redeem it but has too many flaws as well to make it good enough, very similar pros and cons for 2007's Wolfhound actually. Night Watch is an excellently made film, the scenery is sumptuous with a dark edge as well, the CGI is well-defined and used appropriately and most of the photography is skilfully done. The music score is terrific as well, it has some beautiful parts, some stirring parts and some haunting parts, and these are used in a way that is effective for each scene and doesn't across as repetitive or jarring. The acting is also quite good, Konstantin Khabensky's lead performance in particular is great and the supporting do a good job in making the most of what they have. The script is a mix here, some of it is literate and thoughtful but there are too many other instances where it sounds awkward and underwritten. Most of the photography is fine, but that is not the case with the action sequences where it is very claustrophobic-feeling and too much like watching a hurriedly-edited music video. The action doesn't really have as much drive or tension as it ought to, it's performed competently but rather stodgily choreographed. The characters are sketched very thinly, we know what types of characters they are but often that's pretty much it. The story is the biggest problem with Night Watch, a good idea but the storytelling is far too rushed and confused with too many things left unexplained or underdeveloped. If the pace had slowed down, things would have been more comprehensible, less choppy and better developed. While the ending is also a let down, it was here where Night Watch felt the most rushed and it felt unfinished and anti-climatic too. Overall, a mixed bag here and this is coming from a Russian fantasy fanatic who hasn't read the book(and you don't necessarily have had to to either like or dislike the film) and judged Night Watch on its own terms. 5/10 Bethany Cox

What is it about Russian films? The day after watching the original SOLARIS, which I'd heard was so good and ended up hating, I sat down to watch NIGHT WATCH, which I'd heard was a masterful blockbuster, a breath of originality in a world over-saturated by endless Hollywood vampire films. It isn't. In fact, it isn't even a good film, and it displays no uniqueness to make it Russian. From the director's awfully flashy, MTV-style directing – all cool zooms and sweeps and special effects with lots of sound and noise, signifying nothing – to the predictable nature of the storyline and the desire to rip off or reference just about ALL major Hollywood productions in this genre – I recognised UNDERWORLD, LORD OF THE RINGS, THE MATRIX, and GHOSTBUSTERS(!) in this, and I'm sure there were many more – NIGHT WATCH is a real bore.

The story is the same old nonsense – humans and vampires have been at war for centuries, yadda yadda yadda, I saw all this in UNDERWORLD which wasn't very good, but a darned sight better than the clichés on display here. It kicks off with a cheesy battle sequence before delivering a storyline in the modern day which couldn't be more boring: an uninteresting guy is enlisted in the ranks of the good guys, battling the evil vampires, and yet nothing happens. There's some stuff about a cursed woman and a blond-haired kid, and a supposedly awe-inspiring climax, but by the end we're back to where we were at the beginning with little story having been told. You just feel like you've wasted your time.

Yes, there are flashes of inspiration. The owl that turns into a woman intrigued me, as well as having the vampires coming in and out of something called the Gloom, another dimension, which is pretty eerie. Yet the poor script and the over reliance on effects that just aren't that special made me want to turn off. All flashiness and no meat is what you get when you watch this film. A sequel, DAY WATCH, followed.