I wanted to revisit some older releases from around the globe I feel are great sci-fi action films. Since these came out a few years ago and some people might be familiar with them, I’ll keep it short and put all 3 in one post. OK, get in the plane…I’m serving Vodka on the rocks because our first stop is in Moscow.
Night Watch (Nochnoi Dozor) (2004)
The first movie installment based off a Russian book trilogy, Night Watch is like the high testosterone, binge drinking, visually stimulating, and much much better written version of Twilight. It has different “classes” of supernatural beings; Vampire, Shapeshifter, Seer, etc. along with some other random crazy cool powered people. The story is set around a treaty that was made long ago which was an agreement that the side of Dark and the side of Light would cease all wars because both sides were equally matched and they would simply annihilate each other. What was then created were equally authoritative units called “Watches” to make sure the other side wasn’t doing something it wasn’t suppose to. Poop hits the fan when our main character Anton discovers a seer that foretells the Apocalypse coming. The plot gets very interesting when the fate of mankind rests upon the decision of a boy over light or dark. It sounds cliche and yes I rolled my eyes at it, but the great thing about Night Watch is that it turns the plot around when you see who is related to who which keeps the movie away from being generic. The ending is a trip, a twist that I did not expect that becomes answered in the sequel, titled Day Watch (unfortunately a merging of the last two movies into one).
Natural City (2003)
The high quality cinematography and special effects in Natural City blew my mind. It has such a great environment and Blade Runner feel to the movie while still being its own film. The only problem I had with this movie was that the middle of the film gets very slow…there, I warned you. In the future people use cyborgs for different social working jobs and entertainment. The problem is they have a very short lifespan, which gets to be an issue when one of the main characters, named R, falls in love with a cyborg. R and his partner Noma are a special team of cops trained to track down and kill renegade cyborgs. R is caught between duty and desire when he discovers there is a black market technology that can transfer a cyborg’s mind into a human body. R is faced with the choice of saving the cyborg/girl he loves and killing off one crazy renegade cyborg (that has some good martial arts skills) that threatens society. Now it’s time to check out what France has to offer for a crazy martial arts/stunt flick…
District B13 (2004)
There are no white flags here, lots of guns though… and guys jumping off buildings and cars. You might have seen a clip of the big chase scene from District B13, and if so then that is pretty much most of the movie. This is a great popcorn action flick to watch, but I’m giving you a heads up. It contains a lot of cliche; the mob boss that kills his own men for not using the right deodorant, the lone cop, the nuclear bomb threat, some dude’s sister, and monkeys that have jet-packs (jk). District B13 takes place in the far off and unknown future of 2010 (gulp). Ghettos are blocked off from the main city of Paris and thus run by crime bosses that shoot their own men for peeing in a straight line. The baguette hits the fan when these thugs get a hold of a nuclear weapon, and a lone cop named Damien is sent in to infiltrate this district in order to disarm it. The problem is he has no idea how to get around, he recruits a partner/thug named Leito. The two of them perform some crazy ninja moves and stunts, so if you liked movies such as The Transporter and Ong-Bak, this might butter your croissant.
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