DAY WATCH

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STARRING: Konstantin Khabensky, Maria Poroshina, Vladimir Menshov, Galina Tyunina, Victor Verzhbitskiy, Zhanna Friske, Dima Martynov, Valeriy Zolotukhin, Aleksey Chadov

2007, 140 Minutes, Directed by: Timur Bekmambetov

Description: The dizzying supernatural Russian epic started in Night Watch continues with Day Watch, in which once again the battle between the forces of Light (the Night Watch) and Dark (the Day Watch) threatens to crack open the world as we know it. The plot centres around Anton (Russian superstar Konstantin Khabensky), an Other (one of many beings with varied supernatural powers) whose son, Yegor, has joined the Day Watch, who are grooming him to be their superpowerful saviour. Anton's protégé, Svetlana, also has high-capacity power, and if Yegor and Svetlana come into conflict, the resulting devastation could shatter everything. The key to success seems to lie with the Chalk of Fate, a simple piece of chalk that can rewrite reality. — Amazon.com

This sequel and the original 2005 Night Watch should preferably be viewed as a double bill in a single sitting. Day Watch simply barrels ahead with the tale begun in that unexpectedly good Russian supernatural thriller, assuming that the viewer had seen the original and can remember it rather well. Things are made worse by the fact that while the theatrical cut of the movie boasted a eight-minute recap to bring viewers back up to speed again, the so-called “director’s cut” DVD features no such niceties. If you haven’t seen Night Watch at all, you’d simply be wasting your time.

Like the first movie, Day Watch is nonsense. But it’s glorious nonsense. The script is muddled and riddled with various plot holes, but the over-the-top special effects — as if they filmed one of the X-Men movies whilst high on acid — are still a delight. Even with the nonsensical plot (it really helps that you have recently seen the original movie quite recently) the movie still manages to boil up some tension and involvement regardless. We don’t always know what exactly is happening, but we care damn it!

Russian author Sergei Lukyanenko wrote another book in the series titled Twilight Watch, but it is unclear whether there are plans to film for talented newcomer Timur Bekmambetov to film it too as the director is currently making his Hollywood debut with Wanted starring Angelina Jolie. Our video evenings are all the poorer for it . . .
 

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