Title: Day Watch
Starring: Konstantin Khabensky, Maria Poroshina (II), Dmitry Martynov, Galina Tyunina, Vladimir Menshov
Directed By: Timur Bekmambetov
Produced By: Vladimir Melikhov, Mikhail Borisovsky, Alexei Kublitsky
Genre: Art/Foreign, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Adaptation and Sequel
Release Date: June 1st, 2007 (Limited)
MPAA Rating: R for violence.
Distributors: Fox Searchlight Pictures
Originally I wanted to see Night Watch because of the effects that were shown in the trailer. What I got was an interesting and slightly chaotic tale of two groups of “Others”: Light Others and Dark Others. Beings with powers such as shape shifting, vampirism, and the ability to switch bodies just to name a few. Each group has a police-like outfit that was created to watch the other. Light Others have Night Watch and Dark Others have Day Watch. Day Watch continues the story of the struggle of these two opposing forces. This is just a general outline of what is going on in both films. Night Watch focused on the good guys, while Day Watch focuses on the bad guys. There is a third movie in the making called Dusk Watch which I am still pretty excited to see.
Great effects punctuate the hot mess that is Day Watch. I say hot mess because being a Russian film, there is definitely a different style to these films. There is a lack of character development that hurts it as well as some confusing plot elements such as multiple mini-storylines and some unnecessary scenes. Plus the ending may seem to be a letdown for some but I believe that it opens the doors wide open for the next film, unlike a certain Nic Cage movie that I won't mention (Next). The difference is knowing there will be another film and not just leaving the audience hanging suspended with their cries of “What the f***!”
Just like the first, Day Watch is subtitled so it is kind of hard to get a feeling as to how well the acting is, but nobody looked bad. Costume designs, set pieces, props and such were great. And, an interesting thing continued from the first film, is the subtitles themselves. If two characters are onscreen, the subtitles are on the side closest to the character speaking them. Also, there is a scene where a butcher picks up a hunk of raw meat, calls a woman a bitch, throws it against the wall and as it slides down reveals the word “bitch” in blood. Many other little tricks with the subtitles help make the movie a little more fun to read as I usually don't like subtitles.
I can't really say that it's better than the first or even equal to, but I enjoyed it and most horror/action/fantasy fans will too, if they can get their heads around the different style of film that is Day Watch. A lot of people are saying that this series of films aren't that good because they are branching off from the novels that they are based on. Those are the people who get really upset if films don't follow the books exactly, so keep that in mind when reading other reviews of these films. Me, I say be your own judge.
Visit the films website at http://www.foxsearchlight.com/daywatch/
Until the world ends,
keep reading
Mitch E.
mitchemerson@hotmail.com
No comments:
Post a Comment