Though the trappings may be familiar-the eternal struggle of Good against Evil, an uneasy truce between the two sides-this film still delivers fascinating characters and incredible action and special effects.
Based on Russian writer Sergei Lukyanenko's novel of the same name, the film only tells a small part of that original story, but director Timur Bekmambetov takes this small part and does amazing things with it. The movie is a true epic.
The Light Other and Dark Others, humans who possess all manner of supernatural abilities, maintain a centuries old stalemate for the sole reason that both sides are too equally matched. The two groups met in battle once before and it nearly resulted in the total destruction of all those of the Light and the Dark. Gesser, Lord of Light and Zavulon, Lord of Dark realized that the only way to preserve the lives of all Others was to create the Truce, which abides to this day and age.
As per the agreement, if a person should discover that they wield the powers of the Other they cannot be forced to choose Good or Evil. They must come to this decision of their own free will. This is how the central and pivotal character of Anton Gorodetsky is introduced.
Back in 1992 young Anton pays a visit to an old woman who is a witch. A woman he had been seeing and who is now pregnant has recently left him for another man. Anton asks the witch to enact a spell that will kill the developing fetus in the young lady's womb and induce her to leave this new man. The old woman appeals to him to consider the implications of what he wants but he tells her to go ahead with it anyway. But before she can complete the spell a team of Light Others intercedes and arrests her.
In the ensuing struggle a strange thing happens to Anton. He seems to slip into another dimension where he witnesses the Light Others engaged in supernatural combat with the witch. The stress of the situation has activated the powers of the Other in Anton.
Jumping forward to 2004, Anton is now a pitiful drunk living in a small, filthy apartment and working for the Light Side as a tracker. He receives a call to locate a young boy who has been psychically lured away from a public pool by a pair of vampires. He manages to find and rescue the boy, Yegor, but one of the vampires is killed in the process. And from this one simple incident Anton sets in motion events that will lead to a catastrophic confrontation between Light and Dark once again.
There is a prophesy that has existed since the precepts of the Truce were laid down that day will come when an Other more powerful than any before will appear and, should this one choose Light or Dark, will shift the balance of power forever.
There are many brilliant camera and visual effects throughout the film, such as some neat tricks done with subtitles and there are very good-looking and plentiful, but not excessive, CG effects. Some of the most interesting effects sequences in the movie feature the Gloom, another realm that the Others are able to slip in and out of at will which allows them to vanish seemingly into thin air and pas through walls and locked doors. This is the place into which Anton shifted when he became an Other. The Gloom is a living thing that can consume those who spend too much time within it.
Even in the midst of all of these outlandish and occasionally gruesome proceedings there is an important message to be found. The original novel and, by extension, the film are very concerned about the nature and quality of Good and Evil and ask the viewer to keep in mind that those who are quick to rally to the side of so-called Good are not always as moral as they claim, nor are those who are labeled Evil always as corrupt as they seem.
