Day Watch
November 2, 2007
Rated: NR Runtime: 139 min Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Day Watch is the logically named sequel to Night Watch, the amazingly stylish Russian movie about the battle between the forces of good and those in the dark that oppose them. I’m glad to say that Day Watch is a better movie than it’s predecessor, better action, better story, and even more stylish than before.
This however is not one of those sequels that stands alone, if you haven’t seen Night Watch you will never manage to figure out everything that’s happening on screen. I made the mistake of not refreshing my memory before screening Day Watch and it took at least 30 minutes before I remembered enough to be certain I was keeping up with the entire story. You should also read our review of Night Watch before reading this one, and perhaps consider NOT reading this review if you haven’t seen Night Watch yet.
The Dark Others have their Great One, and without some balance the scales of power greatly tip in their direction. Fortunately those in the Light have found a newbie who has the power to be a Great One, but she’s reckless and doesn’t seem to understand how to follow directions. Did I mention she’s blond?
The story is so convoluted that it’s pointless to try and give another other than a very high level summary of what’s happening, so with that in mind… Anton is Svetlana’s trainer (she’s the blond) and also has the hots for her. The Dark Others are trying to frame Anton for murder, maybe, and are definitely trying to setup a clash between the Great Ones so they can get the great war going again. Meanwhile Yegor is having his coming of age party and Zavulon wants Anton to attend (Yegor being Antons son if you recall, and Zavulon being the leader of the Dark Others.) There’s a whole story arc about the Chalk of Fate, and another about a woman being tied to Zavulon via a ring but she’s fallen in love with a young vampire who father works for Zavulon and would do anything to keep his son safe and some Chinese guy who knows a lot and some body switching to hide Anton which is pointless if you think about it enough since these people are all magic in some way. I’ll stop now, you get the idea.
While there’s a lot going on in the movie, it’s all very pretty to watch. The special effects are a combination of old school methodology and CGI , with the old school stuff being the most interesting. For example, at the beginning of the movie there’s a scene where a horse jumps through a brick wall. I remember thinking to myself what a good job they did with the CGI on that scene. Well, it wasn’t fake. They actually trained a horse to jump through a brick wall, it showed the process on the DVD. That just rocks, and you’d never get by with something like that in Hollywood.
Night/Day Watch aren’t the greatest movies to ever tell the tale of the battle between good and evil, but it it one of the most stylish tellings that I can recall. I recommend both of them, it’s a good way to spend a Saturday night and you can always consider this as a cultural experience since they are Russian flicks after all.
Popularity: 12% [?]
Seen it? How many stars do you give it?
(2 votes, average: 4 out of 5)
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Apparently the third movie is going to be called DUSK or TWILIGHT WATCH.
It’ll be interesting to see what they do, because Day Watch did a good job of wrapping everything up. I don’t actually see the need for a third movie, though if they do it I’ll certainly watch.