Review
“Night Watch” and “Day Watch” are unbearably messy films.
The story: In Medieval times, the light and dark forces waged war against each other but they decided to agree to a peace truce. Cut to many years later in modern day Moscow in which we follow Anton (a member of the Night Watch) who helps stop the dark forces from breaking the rules. In “Day Watch” Anton finds himself in a bit of a mess when he tries to save his son from joining the dark forces while also trying to persuade others that he did not commit the murders he was framed for.
While “Night Watch” and “Day Watch” are ambitious and visually stunning films, they are both extremely sloppy and confusing films. In “Night Watch,” writer/director Timur Bekmambetov (who directed the equally atrocious “Wanted”) crams far too many ideas, subplots and mythology into a two hour film while also piling in characters every five minutes. I realize this all probably made sense in the writer/director’s mind, but his jumbled thoughts do not translate well to screen, nor do they make much sense. I will say that Timur’s direction does have its moments, however. Some of his shots were impressive, but generally I felt his style was too stylized. It doesn’t help that he tends to go overboard with slow-motion and complicated F/X heavy shots.
I thought “Day Watch” was going to be a superior film, but alas it is actually worse. While the director ups the ante on the unique visuals (crazy car crashes, a deathly tango dance, a powerful electrical cable whip, and a car driving across a building sideways), the plot is even more of a mess in this sequel. From the opening prologue about a “Chalk Of Fate,” I knew I was in for a long 2 ½ hours, and a long 150 minutes it was. Basically, the movie just consists of a whole lot of talk and threats and strange imagery and little else. By the time the eventful, but over the top, moronic ending came around; I just wanted the credits to roll already.
Summary: Skip these bloated films.
Picture and Sound
The “Night Watch” 1.85:1 1080P picture quality is a bit grainy and oversaturated at times, but overall it is a sharp looking transfer. The “Day Watch” 2.35:1 1080P transfer is much cleaner looking, but that’s not much of a surprise as it is a newer film.
Viewers can watch “Night Watch” and “Day Watch” with an English 5.1 DTS audio track or a Russian 5.1 DTS-HD audio track. Both of the tracks are quite good. The action certainly had my speakers rumbling. I did feel the dialogue was a little too quiet at times and that it was overpowered by the action in certain scenes.
Extras
Night Watch:
* 5 deleted scenes with optional director commentary.
* Fox Blu-ray trailers and a “Night Watch” theatrical trailer.
* Poster gallery and a comic book still gallery.
* “Night Watch” trilogy (3:30).
* “Characters, Story and Subtitles” (5:00)- The director talks about the film.
* “Making Of Night Watch”- An exhaustive 39 minute making of that contains the usual interviews and behind-the-scenes footage.
* Commentary by director Timur Bekmambetov. Dull commentary track in which Timur tries to explain his work.
* Commentary by novelist Sergei Lukyanenko. For fans of the film only.
Day Watch:
* 6 Russian trailers, 16 Russian TV spots and a theatrical trailer.
* “The Making Of Day Watch” (26:00) contains interviews and some cool set footage, behind-the-scenes shots of a few action sequences, etc.
* Commentary by director Timur Bekmambetov. A frightfully dull track with a ton of quiet spots.
