Director: Timur Bekmambetov
Writers: Timur Bekmambetov, Sergei Lukyanenko, Alexander Talal, Vladimir Vasiliev
Cinematographer: Sergei Trofimov
Starring: Konstantin Khabensky, Mariya Poroshina, Vladimir Menshov, Galina Tyunina, Viktor Verzhbitsky
Studio/Running Time: Fox Searchlight, 132 mins.
“It ain’t no use in turnin’ on your light, babe
I’m on the dark side of the road.”
-Bob Dylan “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right”
When seeing a movie like Star Wars or Lord of the Rings, it’s easy to suspend belief for a couple of hours. A robotic-voiced megalomaniac in black pajamas and a pith helmet who’s powerful enough to destroy planets? No problem. One gold ring to rule the entire world? It could happen. But when a film like Day Watch is set in the present day and starts leaning towards the nebulous “sci-fi” genre, a critic will inevitably claim that it’s unrealistic. Say what?
Day Watch is the sequel to the Russian film Night Watch in which we learn that the world is in balance because of a centuries-old truce between the dark-siders and the light-siders who live amongst we clueless mortals. (A third film, Dusk Watch, is in the works.) The truce is strained when one of the light guys, Anton, is suspected of murdering a couple of dark side vampires while searching for the mystical “Chalk of Fate.” He’s also looking for his son who has gone to the dark side. And he’s dealing with temporarily inhabiting the body of a woman who used to be an owl. Needless to say, Day Watch can be a tad confusing despite the fact that we are quickly updated on what happened in the first film. But the acting is superb, the dialogue is incredibly sharp and humorous, and the effects are to die for. It is a much more cinematic film than the first, and completely hammers the two Matrix sequels. Even the subtitles are entertaining as the words change color, bounce and crash into pieces.
Put away your newly updated, re-animated director’s special edition of that super saga and see Day Watch, one of the most entertaining films of the year. And leave your sense of reality at home.