The film begins with Anton Gorodetsky (Konstantin Khabensky) visiting a fortune teller (actually, an "Other") to put a curse on the wife who left him, terminating her pregnancy in the hope that it will drive her back into his arms. At the last second, Gorodetsky has second thoughts, and the plot is foiled by the intervention of the Night Watch, who are surprised to find that Gorodetsky can see them even though they are cloaked from human visibility. The only explanation is that Goordetsky is himself an Other.

We pick up the story several years later, with Gorodetsky now a member of the Night Watch, who sides co-exist relatively peacefully with the Day Watch as long as the truce holds (they even interact socially to some degree). Recently, however, things have taken a turn for the worse: Gorodetsky kills one of the Dark Others in the line of duty -- but without authorization. It seems there is a prophecy of an Other who will tip the scales between Light and Dark, and it's somehow mixed up with another character, a virgin who has been cursed so that everyone she comes in contact with falls ill or dies, and there's some kind of extra-dimensional vortex above her that is opening and creating havoc on Earth. While all this is going on Gorodetsky is also tracking a vampire who has targeted a young boy, whose age (if you do the math) indicates he was born right around the time of that almost terminated pregnancy. Could this be Gorodetsky's son? And if he is an Other, will he join with the father who almost terminated him or with the forces of Darkness?

NIGHT WATCH is a reasonably good fantasy film -- with more emphasis on action that horror. Although clearly inspired by effects-laden Hollywood blockbusters, the Russian film avoids many of their pitfalls: director Timur Bekmambetov makes excellent use of CGI to portray the paranormal events but avoids the silly martial arts extravagance of the UNDERWORLD movies. Thanks to its Russian heritage, NIGHT WATCH has a look and feel different from its U.S. counterparts; there is a drab monotone to the settings and photography, a sense of living in a run-down world.

Needless to say, this ending is far from satisfying. Like much else in NIGHT WATCH, it seems to give us a glimpse of things we will see again (hopefully in more depth) in the follow-up. Fortunately, despite this frustrating sense of an unfinished story, NIGHT WATCH is easily good enough to make you want to see DAY WATCH.

Read a complete review of the NIGHT WATCH Film & DVD AT CINEFANTASTIQUE ONLINE. The article includes comments from director Timur Bekmambetov about achieving the film's CGI work, supervising the English subtitles, and completing the trilogy with an English-language film.