Lee Eisenberg Sergey Lukyanenko's Watch series depicts a war between Light Forces and Dark Forces. Timur Bekmambetov filmed the first entry, "Nochnoy dozor" (Night Watch) in 2004 and then released the second entry, "Dnevnoy dozor" (Day Watch) two years later. All that I can say is that it's not like anything that you've ever seen. This isn't simply a plain old vampire story ("Twilight" doesn't count for anything). It incorporates history; how many movies have mentioned Tamerlane? And some of those action scenes are enough to shock even the most hardened action fan.I should say that the movie isn't a masterpiece. It's an innovative movie, and an entertaining one. The last half hour has to be seen to be believed. If you're into dark fantasy - think NBC's "Grimm" - then this will be the movie for you.

rooprect I saw Night Watch on a whim a year ago and thought it was pretty good. Not good enough to rush out & buy Day Watch immediately, but a good flick. Well that was my mistake.I'm here to tell you that Day Watch is such an impressive experience that you MUST rush out and watch it immediately after seeing Night Watch. In the history of cinema, very few sequels have been as good as the first. The Empire Strikes Back is one. The Silence of the Lambs is another. Star Trek II The Wrath of Khan oh hayell yes. And DAY WATCH.The budget clearly got a shot of steroids after the success of the first, and this is evident in very slick, heart pumping CGI scenes. Funny I was never one for car chases but there's one here which alone is worth the price of admission. It involves a car driving on the side of a skyscraper, how cool is that.But believe it or not, it wasn't the flashy effects and excitement that really got my attention. It's the way the characters were more confident, more human, and more charismatic than the first. This led to much humor, sentimentality, and a very powerful love story--none of which detracted from the pace and action. In fact this is an excellent example of how breaks for humor and sentiment can greatly augment the momentum of a film.A word of caution to the English-speaking audiences. The subtitles, while adequate, do not cover all the dialogue. So if you have trouble keeping up with the plot, there's your culprit. I watched it with subtitles and managed to hold on, but I was left with a few questions. I've since been told that this is one of the few movies where dubbed English is the best way to watch it. I dunno about that; I've never been a fan of dubbing because you lose the original actors' performances. But it's up to you.The latest news I heard is that the third installment "Dusk Watch" has been scrapped. Although that would be a sad development indeed, I'm not too broken up simply because I thought that Day Watch wrapped things up beautifully and no more needs to be said. All the same, I hope this director and his troupe continue to make more films of this calibre in the future.

dreamtrove I'm note sure what to say. All of this film is excellent and a very worthy sequel to its predecessor. Only one problem. A very disappointing ending. It didn't seem like it was going to be, until the last minute or so, when everything unhappens. This was a fairly obvious possibility, but it makes me sad that they went for it. I suspect this very tired idea transcends culture. I haven't read the books, so maybe this was how it went, but it is not an original idea. The idea of undoing things is dangerous for a story to remain sound, but I felt cheated just as I have in various other films that have used this device. A story is a journey from one place to somewhere else, the characters who live there, the world they go through, and the changes that happen as a consequence of actions we take. We all make mistakes, and we must live with the consequences, and Anton is a very flawed person who makes many.The film is still a must see, in spite of what is sadly a common Hollywood cliché.

TheLittleSongbird Night Watch personally was neither a great or terrible film, if anything it was kind of a mixed bag. Its sequel Day Watch was lacking in a lot of areas and while Night Watch was far from great it was better than this. There are definitely things to like about Day Watch. Like its predecessor it is stunning to look at, it's beautifully shot and the scenery is very Russian, very like Russian fairy-tale quality. The special effects are also great, and while occasionally erratic so is the music score with its fair share of rousing and haunting moments. If there's anything also that Day Watch does better than Night Watch is that the action sequences have more energy and cohesion, some of the stunts are a wonder to behold. The acting is not very consistent though, there are no complaints about Konstantin Khabensky who's great but supporting roles could have a tendency to feel over-compensated(Viktor Verzhbitsky) or vapid(Maria Poroshina). The story is a mess, the actual structure is very dense but more of a problem was that there was almost too much going on or written in. Things often got confused or unexplained, even both, while the pacing gets tedious towards the end and the film feels thirty minutes too long, not to mention the cop-out of an ending. There is a great Russian fantasy/sci-fi atmosphere evoked, but the overlong length, drawn out pacing and messy narrative make a film devoid of wonder, thrills or genuine excitement outside of the action sequences, special effects and stunts. The characters are fantasy clichés and next to nothing is done with them, we know they are heroes and villains and that there's a conflict of light and dark(good vs.evil) but little else. The script is the same as the story, often underwritten and stilted with the humour feeling out-of-place. The direction is the kind that does a great job with the visual side of things but any of the assets that give substance are largely ignored, it's a little more refined this time around but can be both erratic and ponderous. Again, not a terrible directing job but a case of pluses and minuses. In conclusion, no problems visually and musically but the script and story are another story put together. 4/10 Bethany Cox