Review of Nightwatch (1997) by David S — 05 Oct 2007

This American remake is vastly inferior to the exceptional Dutch original, despite having the same writer-director. However, the film was also unfairly maligned upon its initial release by critics, calling it an utter disaster, and even though it's far from perfect, it's also far from a disaster.

The atmosphere is just as omnibus, moody, and foreboding as the original, being constantly palpable to the viewer throughout the experience. However, after its stellar opening reals, the film becomes very unfocused and sloppy, shifting too often between subplots making it hard to really care about what's going on.

Yet (another) however, the mystery is still strong and vibrates throughout all the unnecessary subplots, thus maintaining the viewer's interest, and it's sloppy construction does, in fact, make the surprise revelation a genuine surprise.

In the end, it's a film that was never really necessary to begin with as the original is such an impeccable thriller, but since the original is no longer available in America, it is an adequate substitute until it gets re-released (please, let it be soon).