Day Watch (aka Dnevnoy dozo) (English language version) (2006)

Day Watch (2006) (English language)

6/10

Ok, after 3 attempts at watching it (it's 2:20 long), I'm still sort of confused. "Nightwatch" confused me for 2 watchings, so maybe I'm slow to catch on. I liked this film, but it got points off for being confusing at times (to me), some things that happened that are made a big deal of for about 10 minutes and then get negated, and the ending. If you liked "Nightwatch", I recommend seeing this. I recommend seeing it 3 times to make sense out it. :)

The 'Daywatch' and 'Nightwatch' characters carry over from the first film, obviously. For those who have not seen "Nightwatch", these two groups are some type of semi-supernatural super-humans (maybe). Long time ago they fought a climatic battle to a standstill and declared a truce. Each side watches the other while still trying to gain an upper hand, there is a prophecy of "the one who will decide the ultimate fate", etc. Kind of like the Matrix/Star Wars/Supernatural in three levels of reality. Hey, it's the best I can do.

Before we get to our recurring characters, there is a bit that I think is supposed to be Ghengis Khan trying to get the more precious artifact in the world- the "Chalk of Fate/Destiny" or somesuch. It can rewrite history by someone writing "John McCain won the election", and presto it is so. Khan-man defeats the huge fortress, guards, and traps by --riding his horse through walls--. The only thing more rediculous than this is how he came up with the idea. We now jump back to our regularly scheduled fued.

So the main guy's kid from "Nightwatch" turns out to be Neo/Chosen-one, but he picked to roll with the Night-side (backstory from "Nightwatch"). So now he's grown up a bit, got some powers, and it a total prick by going around sucking out the life force of regular people with one of those straws you get with the cardboard juice boxes for kids. No, I am not kidding. This is a violation in the Night/Daywatch rulebook of obscure rules, and the hunt is on to catch the life-sucker. Nightwatch tries to hide the kid, Daywatch catches up, Nightwatch pulls more shenanigans, and so on and so on. Also, the 'Chalk of Providing Cheesteaks' pops up now and again, but really never does anything important until the end (wow, bet you didn't see that coming, didja?). The cat and mouse chase is both entertaining and the most confusing. It is also the majority of the film, so I'm not going to expound on it as that would take 7 additional paragraphs.

The visuals are great. The director and cinematographer know their craft. Fights, practical FX, and CGI FX were great. I was especially impressed with the CGI, for if you have read any of my previous reviews, you know I generally hate CGI. There were several sequences that were clearly impossible without CGI, and only one got on my nerves (think "Ghostrider" and building). However, that was more than made up with high-voltage electric-wire whips. Once again, I'm not kidding- it was a darn awesome scene. The acting seemed pretty good, but I ended up watching most of the film with the English track on for various reasons.

Overall, good film, worth a rental. I won't be buying it, but if you loved "Nightwatch" you will probably end up adding this to your collection.

Now to the *** SPOILERS ****

Now once again, I was confused at times, so if I get something wrong, you know why. Right off, the impenatrable fortress's weakness is 1) found out by sticking your finger through a parchment, and 2) riding your horses through it's walls?!?! Ugh. Next up- I don't know if the sippy-straw thing was supposed to be joke, but couldn't they find something that looked, like, evil or something? Switching the guy and girl between their bodies looked like a good idea at first. Except it never fooled anyone except the one girl. And that was a blown opportunity, too. You have 2 female bodies in a shower, you don't flash back and forth between the guy/girl personas! Naked girls! Shower! Ugh. Can someone explain the killer yo-you to me? Seriously. It destroys most of the world except for the girl it slimed and camera guy. Convienient. Ugh.

And for the grand finale, the "Chalk of Lets Just Erase 5 hours of Film For F--k's Sake" wipes everything back to the 3rd minute of "Nightwatch". Well, except the 2 head honchos remembering everything that happened/will-not-happen now. It worked for "The Wizard of Oz". This is the equivalent of the end of "Matrix 3" ending with Mr. Anderson waking up on top of his half finished graphic novel that happens to detail the "Matrix" trilogy. (Well, that might have been better than the actual ending, but that's for another review) I watched "Nightwatch" twice and "Daywatch" for maybe a total of 2 & 1/2 times, and enjoyed them even when being a tad confused, for a big middle finger at the end. Ugh.