DVD Review: Day Watch Unrated
Timur Bekmambetov Film Based On Sergei Lukyanenko's Trilogy
Oct 30, 2008
Day Watch, the sequel to the Russian blockbuster Night Watch, becomes increasingly confused and incoherent as it strays farther from the source material, Sergei Lukyanenko's bestselling trilogy. On the plus side, the performances, the action sequences and CGI are really good.
What's Day Watch About?
It's been over a year since the events of Night Watch. Anton Gorodetsky (Konstantin Khabensky) is training Svetlana (Mariya Poroshina) to be a Light Other. However, he's not only wrestling with his feelings for her, but knows she is quickly becoming more powerful than him. Compounding his woes is his adolescent son Yegor (Dmitry Martynov), who is becoming an increasingly powerful and psychotic Dark Other. True to form, the Dark Others are trying to blackmail Anton so he'll hide the evidence of Yegor's murderous rampages.
Oh yes, and Dark warlord Zabulon (Viktor Verzhbitsky) plans to use Yegor's upcoming birthday as an excuse to kick off Armageddon.
Confused yet? Throw in a murder investigation, body-swapping, a tragic romance between a young vampire and a Dark witch, plus a hunt for an ancient artifact known as the Chalk of Fate that, in the right hands, can alter previous events. It all adds up to a movie with too much plot.
Even reading the books doesn't help. Bekmambetov and Lukyanenko are tossing away parts of plotlines left, right and center, while leaving the shreds to dangle in the CGI-created breeze. It doesn't help that there are many nuances to the flick that North American audiences simply won't get, simply because the film is very Russian. That, however, is not the movie's fault.
On the plus side, Day Watch looks freakin' good, and the performances are uniformly excellent. Khabensky plays the conflicted hero very well, and Martynov pulls off the rare feat of making an amoral teen sympathetic. You understand why Anton would willingly destroy the world in order to save him, instead of drop-kicking his ass into the nearest sewer. Verzhbitsky makes a charmingly Mephistophelean villain, showing genuine affection for his young protegé while plotting the Apocalypse.
DVD Extras
Bekmambetov's commentary leaves massive holes, and an anonymous prompter has to push him into commenting on the picture. Certainly, part of the problem is that English is not Bekmambetov's first language, but you wish he would say more since the tidbits he does drop are fairly interesting.
There's also a "making-of" featurette, where the cast and crew discuss their roles in the film(s). Good stuff with a minimum of butt-kissing; the highlight is how they trained horses to run through walls (Confused? Watch the DVD). There are also several trailers, and the inevitable set-up for the 3rd flick, Twilight Watch.
The Final Analysis
Despite its many faults (too many plotlines is a rookie mistake in filmmaking), Day Watch is still better than its closest comparison, the Underworld series. Most of that is due to the first-rate cast, which manages to make sense of the convoluted plot, and the fact that Bekmambetov really knows how to direct an action sequence.
Despite straying farther from what author Lukyanenko originally intended, Day Watch is still a fun entry into the dark urban fantasy genre. For that, it gets a 6/10.
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