(no subject)

[prog]

More stuff about that movie, mostly morning-after critical. This is spoilery.

* I found it interesting, and in retrospect surprising, that unless I miscounted only one person died (outside of the intro battle sequence and its visionary reprise) -- the vampiric creep in the first reel.

* Why was that business with the airplane even in the movie? Was a power outage not dramatic enough by itself?

* For that matter, why did the lights come back on after the curse was lifted, while the power plant remained blowed-up? Maybe the curse was suppressing an emergency back-up power source? Eh who knows.

* What was with that guy at the beginning, to whom the two generals whispered their truce to, and then he apparently aged several decades? I was expecting the old man to be revealed as the film's narrator, but this doesn't happen -- we simply don't see that guy again.

My money's on the last bit getting clarified in the second or third movie. (According to WP the second one, Day Watch, has already been released in Russia, and the third is in casting.)

Comments

More spoiler possibility

[doctor-atomic.livejournal.com]

I wondered about the airplane and power as well.

Also, if I am not mistaken, Anton did not kill Andrey (the vampire creep). He was killed by the lights of the van that happened to fall on him. Right? So why was the vampire girlfriend after him? Wasn't it just an accident?

A movie-mate of mine suggested that the curse should have been lifted by Anton sleeping with the Virgin, so she wouldn't be a virgin anymore and therefore couldn't, by definition, be the source of the vortex. I thought that was more clever than the "I cursed myself" bit. And why was the curse lifted when she admitted it? Was it because she was repentant? Very Christian.

Re: More spoiler possibility

[prog.livejournal.com]

It seemed to me that he intentionally reflected the light into Andrey from the shard of mirror that he was holding.

Which begs the question: If the vampires implode when headlights him them, how are they able to survive at all? Especially when some of them apparently think nothing of walking around in broad daylight, like Anton's neighbor.

IIRC Anton's flashlight was special somehow (I think he refers to it as a "UV" at one point), so maybe the van's headlights were similarly modified? Shrug.

As soon as they said "virgin" I immediately thought "OK, love interest", but yeah they didn't go there.

I liked how the curse was lifted, actually! I think it had more to do with the source of the curse being identified and recognized, then any action taken. (Though arguably the woman wished it off of herself at some level when she realized, at that moment, that she had put in on herself.) I was satisfied by this outcome... it seemed a mix of both causal and what-the-hell-just happened, fitting the rest of the magic in the movie.

Re: More spoiler possibility

[radiotelescope.livejournal.com]

The headlights were certainly modified. (Not only is the flashlight referred to as "UV", but we see him plugging some kind of blue crystal into it in place of a regular bulb.)

Re: More spoiler possibility

[doctor-atomic.livejournal.com]

I guess the way the curse was lifted seemed anti-climactic, especially in light of the results of the curse and the lifting of the curse (crazy airplanes, lights, huge windy vortex, etc.)

Re: More spoiler possibility

[prog.livejournal.com]

I agree with you there. All this buildup, and then *poof* gone OK let's move on. Huh? Er, OK...

Re: More spoiler possibility

[treacle-well.livejournal.com]

If the vampires implode when headlights him them, how are they able to survive at all?

As you suggest and others agree, these were special Ghost Buster vampire-killing headlights.