The second part of a proposed trilogy storms onto DVD with the release of Timur Bekmambetov’s Day Watch. Although the story can be a little silly, the action and characters have something that make it watchable (although it might be best to watch the first one again too).
The forces of Light and Dark are still doing battle and Anton Gorodetsky (Konstantin Khabensky) finds himself once again in the middle of it. The forces of Light are represented by Gesser (Boris Ivanovich), the leader of the Night Watch, and Dark by Zavulon (Viktor Verzhbitsky), leader of the Day Watch. These two sides are in constant opposition and only held apart from a battle royale by a centuries old pact.
In the first film, Anton’s son Yegor (Dmitry Martynov) went over to the dark side. Anton is now working with Svetlana (Mariya Poroshina), but he’s also been bribed into destroying evidence of Yegor’s dark attacks. Anton is looking for an artifact caused the Chalk of Fate to try and change his.
Meanwhile, Anton is framed for murder and the truce is dangerously close to being broken. To protect Anton, Gesser uses magic to have Anton and Olga (Galina Tyunina) switch bodies. Anton now has to get himself cleared of the murder rap before the Inquisition kills him and the truce is broken, but Zavulon has other plans and they’re scheduled to come to fruition at Yegor’s birthday party on New Year’s Eve.
The “Watch” series is a sci-fi/horror epic that comes from Russia and is based on the series of novels by Sergei Lukyanenko. Both Day and Night Watch have gone on to very successful box office in Russia.
The third part of this trilogy is coming soon to a theater near Russia sometime soon. I thought that this entry had the same interesting characters (played by the same folks no less) and eye-popping special effects as the first film. However, the recommendation is to watch this sequel again or not too soon before you’ve watched the first film.
It had been awhile for me and I had to think a bit about what the “gloom” was and some other bits of the bells and whistles of this imaginary world. However, I got caught up pretty quick and the things that made the first film so good are also present in this one.
There’s a great special effect where a sports car drives up the side of a building. The story might be a little convoluted but the action is still very compelling. This version does have an ending that will be interesting to see how the third sequel fits in of all of this.
Day Watch is presented in anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1) and is enhanced for 16x9 televisions. Special features include a commentary by director Timur Bekmambetov. The 26-minute “The Making of Day Watch” is in Russian with English subtitles and appears to have been made for Russian television. Next is the 2-minute theatrical trailer, 6 minutes of Russian trailers, 6 minutes of Russian television spots, and previews for other Fox DVDs.
It’s best if you’ve watched the first film pretty much before beginning this next installment, but this next film uses the same elements that made the first one so good. If you enjoyed that one then this one only continues the compelling storyline. Bring on part three.
Day Watch is now available at Amazon . It is available for pre-order at AmazonUK for a Jan. 28th release. Visit the DVD database for more information.
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