Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.0

Day Watch Blu-ray Movie Review

Tiza: The Chalk of Fate.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman September 21, 2008

This review of Day Watch contains spoilers for both Night Watch and Day Watch.

You were warned.

After enjoying Night Watch, finding myself drawn into the world it created, and eager to see the resolution to that film's cliffhanger, it was with high expectations that I screened Day Watch. Pardon the pun, but the experiences were, literally, like night and day, except with a reversal of the meaning usually therein understood. Night Watch created a gritty, enthralling world of opposing supernatural beings struggling to maintain an uneasy peace amongst themselves, introduced a myriad of good characters with whom we became emotionally invested, and wove a story of high intrigue and fascination, replete with plenty of scrumptious violence and action. Day Watch returns these characters, introduces some new ones, and builds on the foundation laid in the first film, but is never as riveting as the first. Frankly, it's not even all that interesting, and the film features an ending that is one of the bigger letdowns I've seen, rivaled only by the 140 or so minutes that precede it.

Can I make it so that I never saw 'The Love Guru?'

In Day Watch, Anton (Konstantin Khabensky), his new trainee Sveta (Mariya Poroshina), and other members of the Night Watch, seek to keep the peace between the factions of Others. Anton's son, Yegor (Dmitry Martynov), now a member of the Day Watch, is days away from his birthday and therefore close to becoming a Great Other, a being powerful enough to disrupt the peace and, ultimately, claim victory for the Dark Others. Anton's only hope of preventing Armageddon is to acquire an ancient piece of chalk -- known as the Chalk of Fate -- that allows its user to undo one mistake form his or her past, in Anton's case the decision to seek the services of the witch at the beginning Night Watch that led him to discover his talents as a seer, join the Light Others, and ultimately, lose his son to the Day Watch. Anton must not only find the chalk, but also discover exactly how it works, all the while keeping it out of the hands of the Day Watch and thereby preventing a calamity the likes of which the world has never seen.

The best word I can come up with to describe Day Watch is "bloated." At nearly two and one-half hours in length, there is plenty of superfluous storytelling here that yanks audiences straight out of the movie. The plot is far too intricate for what is ultimately a rather simple story. It's hard to follow, and not just because of the language barrier. The premise of the story takes no time to grasp, but there are so many odds and ends tossed about that it becomes a chore to sift through it. As you'll read in a moment, the plot is so simple that we know exactly where the movie will go within the opening minutes, and that is never a good sign. There is also an almost cartoonish atmosphere to the movie, conveyed more by the music than by the on-screen action, which, in my estimation, did not lend itself well to the overall story arc of the film, and now the series. Day Watch never feels serious or tense, again perhaps because any drama has been sucked out of the movie after the first few minutes.

Day Watch, and the ending in particular, feels like a cop-out, and is a major let-down compared to the exciting final act and cliffhanger ending of Night Watch. Have you ever seen those commercials featuring the "Easy Button?" Perhaps you are a fan of the "Star Trek" universe and have heard the term "Reset Button" floated about, particularly with regards to "Star Trek: Voyager." Both of these devices fit right in with the plot line of Day Watch. The problem is that we see it coming from the opening minutes of the movie and know that everything in the movie, as well as everything from its predecessor, will be for naught. Granted, the movie does leave its ending somewhat open-ended, and without spoiling it completely, the ending would require too much history to be re-written and too many character arcs, affiliations, and advancements to be recreated with both major and minor details revised to build on this ending, again leaving everything from the first two films for naught.

Day Watch Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Day Watch arrives on Blu-ray with a 2.35:1-framed, 1080p high definition transfer. I find it odd that a sequel tied so closely to the original would be presented with a drastically differing aspect ratio (though Alien and Aliens puled it off), but since the two films take on radically differing tones, I suppose it only makes sense, in that regard. Nevertheless, Day Watch offers a fine looking transfer, one that is slightly superior to its predecessor. Detail remains strong in this release, and is perhaps slightly improved over what we saw in Night Watch. Colors also appears a bit stronger, and blacks come across as somewhat deeper. One scene that stands out occurs in chapter five as Anton and Sveta are in a restaurant, one of the pivotal locales in the film. Anton's woven sweater looks absolutely amazing, with a wonderful texture and realism, not to mention depth, and facial details are remarkable as well. Indeed, fine details, in both close-ups and in distance shots, look very good throughout Day Watch. Flesh tones remain accurate in the film, too. Day Watch, like Night Watch, is a grainy film. It's presence is always visible, and some scenes sport more than others. The transfer does lose sharpness here and there, resulting in some inconsistent soft shots that creep up now and again, but on the whole this transfer is a superior one.

Day Watch Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Day Watch is presented with a Russian language DTS-HD MA 5.1 lossless soundtrack (as well as a lossy DTS English dub and English subtitles), and proves to be quite the sonic experience. The lossless track features an incredibly powerful sound design with a fantastic use of each and every speaker to create a wholly immersive sound field. Just as robust if not more so than the previous outing, Day Watch features a nonstop assault of intense sound effects and music that sounds wonderful in every regard. Bass is deep and tight with some awesome rumbles, chapter 10 offering a prime example of subtle lows used to great effect. The film's famed car-in-a-building scene (you'll know it when you see it) sounds amazing, with excellent fidelity, dynamics, and precision as the squealing of the tires and the revving of the engine are so precise and exciting, not to mention the myriad of other effects that accompany the scene. Dialogue reproduction is consistently strong throughout. Day Watch is quite the listen with an impressive sound design sure to please.

Day Watch Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Day Watch contains significantly fewer supplements than did its predecessor. First up is a commentary track with director Timur Bekmambetov. This begins as more of a question and answer session where Bekmambetov responds to queries about what's going on in the film, the inspirations to create the films, the absence of firearms in the films, and plenty of other worthwhile information and interesting tidbits, such as a scene with a roomful of famous real-life Russian Science Fiction and fantasy writers. There are some very long gaps in the comments, however. The Making of 'Day Watch' (480p, 26:08), like the making-of feature found on Night Watch, is a Russian-language piece with English subtitles. The piece examines various aspects of the production, ranging from the exciting opening sequence of the film to an examination of the film's climactic action sequence. Plenty of interviews with the cast and crew take us through the piece. Concluding the supplemental materials are 16 television spots (480p, 6:02), a 1080p English language trailer (2:32), and 6 Russian language trailers (480p, 6:18). This feature is also D-Box enabled.

Day Watch Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Day Watch proved to be most disappointing as a follow-up to the engaging Night Watch. Silly, predictable, meandering, and oftentimes boring, Day Watch is an uninspired sequel to a movie that deserved better. Although I found the story line not sufficiently compelling, particularly following a screening of Night Watch, 20th Century Fox's Blu-ray release certainly comes up to the standards expected of the format. Featuring stellar audio and video transfers and a few supplemental materials, fans won't be disappointed with this film's presentation on Blu-ray. As much as I would have liked to, I cannot recommend Day Watch. It's predecessor, Night Watch, is definitely worth checking out, and if you enjoy that one, your curiosity will be piqued and watching Day Watch will be inevitable. Who knows, perhaps you'll enjoy it more than I did.