Russians have cinema? Who knew?

I got Night Watch last night from Netflix, and man...I was completely impressed. That doesn't sound like a compliment, but it is. It started out kind of so-so, with the two armies of Light and Dark fighting it out, sides in opposition, blahblahblah, but it really took off almost right from that point. Some of the artistic effects and choices, from the beginning are just amazing (the characters vanishing in the beginning and leaving only their armor behind started it, and it got even neater from there--one of the effects of showing blood vessels reminded me of the plasticized versions I saw at the Body Works 2 exhibit in Boston which was real, so really, really well done here).

There's a lot of "Huh?" floating around in the movie, uncertainties about who's really all that good on the Light side (though the Dark side, per the usual in this sort of movie, is pretty easy to identify by their deeds with one or two exceptions), and, of course, since it's a trilogy, not everything is explained. But it works--enough is explained and enough shown that was is missing doesn't stop you from figuring out the rest (okay, so I had to rewatch the end with the writer's commentary, but I only ended up confirming what I already thought).

And it looks like the sequel, Day Watch is out in the US sometime in August this year. Anyone wants to join me, I'd say this is probably one I would love to catch in theaters (bigscary, correct me if I'm wrong, but weren't you looking for people to see Night Watch back when?)