Day Watch

Plot

A man who serves in the war between the forces of Light and Dark comes into possession of a device that can restore life to Moscow, which was nearly destroyed by an apocalyptic event.

Release Year: 2006

Rating: 6.5/10 (18,540 voted)

Critic's Score: 59/100

Director:
Timur Bekmambetov

Stars: Konstantin Khabenskiy, Mariya Poroshina, Vladimir Menshov

Storyline
Anton belongs to the Forces of the Light as well as his powerful girlfriend and apprentice, but his son is a powerful teenager from the Darkness and Anton protects him. When the balance between Light and Darkness is affected by the death of some evil vampires, Anton is framed and accused of the murders, and he chases an ancient chalk that has the power of changing the destiny of its owner.

Writers: Timur Bekmambetov, Sergey Lukyanenko

Cast:

Konstantin Khabenskiy
–

Anton

Mariya Poroshina
–

Svetlana

Vladimir Menshov
–

Geser

Galina Tyunina
–

Olga

Viktor Verzhbitskiy
–

Zavulon

Zhanna Friske
–

Alisa

Dmitriy Martynov
–

Yegor

(as Dima Martynov)

Valeriy Zolotukhin
–

Kostya's Father

Aleksey Chadov
–

Kostya

Nurzhuman Ikhtymbayev
–

Zoar

Aleksey Maklakov
–

Semyon

Aleksandr Samoylenko
–

Bear (Medved)

Yuriy Kutsenko
–

Ignat

(as Gosha Kutsenko)

Irina Yakovleva
–

Galina Rogova

Georgiy Dronov
–

Tolik

(as Yegor Dronov)

Taglines:
First film of the year

Details

Official Website:
20th Century Fox [France] |
Author Lukyanenko's Official "Dnevnoy dozor" Forum [Russia] |

Release Date: 1 January 2006

Filming Locations: Almaty, Kazakhstan

Box Office Details

Budget: $4,200,000

(estimated)

Opening Weekend: RUR 160,887,453
(Russia)
(8 January 2006)

Gross: $450,686
(USA)
(29 July 2007)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

132 min
 |
USA: 146 min
(unrated version)
 |
Spain: 139 min
(DVD edition)
 |
Argentina: 146 min

Did You Know?

Trivia:

Anton is seen jumping through an advertising of the film
9th Company, the previous record holder at Russia's theatrical box-office.

Goofs:

Continuity:
When Anton (In Olga's body) opens the shower curtain when Svetlana is screaming for him to leave, the next shot is of Svetlana holding the shower curtain closed and screaming at him.

Quotes:

[first lines]

Narrator:
Why does the wind blow? It wipes the tracks where we have passed. So that no one can tell, whether we still exist.

User Review

Very good; shame a lot of references will be lost on Western audiences

Rating: 9/10


Well, I watched Day Watch with my American girlfriend in a St.
Petersburg cinema a few hours ago, and we both enjoyed it. The
relatively huge success of of the first episode obviously allowed the
producers to pump more cash into this second installment, and it shows
throughout the film. The CG sequences are slicker and more impressive,
and so is pretty much everything else, including the consistently
confident directing. Even the fact that the premise is so annoyingly
weak doesn't spoil the fun as much as it did in the first film.

As a Russian though, the thing I liked best was the unmistakable
Russian-ness of the movie. As far as film-making is concerned, I don't
normally mean that as a compliment, but with Day Watch it is different.
While it can definitely appeal to a wider international audience (my
girlfriend, albeit a bit of a Russophile, is an indication of that), it
is at the same time literally packed with all sorts of clever wordplay
and references to various realities of Russian life, ranging from
political satire to hilariously blatant product placement.

Even though I can enjoy a less obnoxious art-house film every now and
then, on the whole I prefer clever commercial movies, and Day Watch
falls into that category very neatly.