Day Watch is the follow up to the Russian sci-fi film Night Watch. The premise of the film is that a 1,000-year truce exists between the forces of Light and Darkness. The Night Watch patrols the night, protecting mankind from the dark ones — witches, shape-shifters, sorcerers, and vampires. On the flip side, the Day Watch oversees the forces of Light. There is a prophecy that says a powerful "other" will enter the world and be tempted by the Dark side, and this will plunge the world into apocalypse. Both sides are looking for "The Chalk of Fate," a piece of chalk that allows the possessor to rewrite history.
I really wanted to like this film; it's a sci-fi flick, and that's my favorite genre, but it was confusing. I couldn't tell who was who. One aspect of the plot involving body switching, and I couldn't always tell who the good guys and the bad guys were. That may have been done intentionally but it wasn't portrayed as so.
Unfortunately this film didn't work for me. Maybe it is because I never saw Night Watch, or it could be because it is a foreign film. I don't think it is because it was subtitled, although I don't watch a lot of subtitled films outside of anime. There is a lot of action on-screen, and I had to read in order to understand the dialogue, which may have distracted me from enjoying Day Watch.
I will say the special effects are pretty spectacular. Director Timur Bekmambetov seems to have taken a page from The Matrix. There is one unbelievably cool scene in which a sports car is driven up the side of a building with amazing camera movements, stunts, and flashy editing.
One of the featurettes goes behind the scenes and tells about the Russian fairy tale that the story was based on. It goes into some of the special effects work in the film, and it also interviews some cast, the director, and crew. It was only after watching this featurette that I was able to partially understand this film, but by then it was too late, and this film had left a bad taste in my mouth.
This film is confusing to me. I can't recommend it, but there are plenty of people who enjoy it. Ultimately this film just isn't for me.
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