Screen Time

“Day Watch,“ the sequel to the thrilling 2004 Russian supernatural action flick “Night Watch,” will probably confuse fans of the original movie and alienate everyone else. That being said — er typed — director Timur Bekmambetov’s follow-up to his critically acclaimed hit is a fun, fast-paced and often inspired piece of pop moviemaking. The flick is far from perfect though, and it somehow feels a lot more hollow that its groundbreaking predecessor.

“Day Watch” had a limited theatrical run in the U.S., but fans can now catch it on a single-disc unrated DVD with an awkward commentary by Bekmambetov and a “making of” featurette.

Let’s talk visuals … It’s an understatement to call “Day Watch” a marvelous creative technical achievement. Bekmambetov and crew almost outdo themselves with some stunning visuals, CG and camera work here. “Day Watch” impresses not only with its incredibly implausible but mind-blowing action scenes but also with its gritty visual take on urban Moscow. Like “Night Watch,” the filmmakers again successfully sell the idea that a supernatural world full of super-powered beings exists alongside our own. Still, some things are off here. Unlike “Night Watch,” the subtitles on this unrated DVD, unfortunately, aren’t artfully weaved into the movie. They just sit there at the bottom of the screen and do their job instead of floating around and becoming part of the action. It’s a minor complaint, but I was really disappointed as I’m sure most American fans will be.

Let’s talk story … We drop in on Anton, the hero of “Night Watch,” presumably years after the events of the first movie. He’s still our focus point in this odd world where Light (good) and Dark (bad) “Others,” or supernatural beings, live on Earth and police each other with bureaucratic rules based on an ages-old treaty. Things go wonky when Anton’s bratty preteen son, who became a Dark Other in the first movie, fires the first salvo of a supernatural war.

From then, the plot takes some fun and unexpected comic turns and moves along at light speed. Still, this second story in a proposed trilogy feels too much like a middle movie. “Night Watch” did a great job of introducing us into this strange world. “Day Watch” just shows us more of it, and it’s hard to grasp some important plot details and character motivations in one sitting. The story doesn’t really pull you in like it should, and that undercuts what could have been a astonishing surprise ending.

American audiences will most likely miss a lot of what makes this movie special, like a creative title sequence that parodies well-known Russian corporate logos and cameos by famous Russian sci-fi writers and genre actors. “Day Watch” is strictly for fans only. For maximum viewing pleasure, I recommend screening it as part of a double feature with “Night Watch.”

———-
Photos courtesy Fox Searchlight

Michael Bay’s fun but bloated epic “Transformers” hits stores today in a single-disc DVD, a two-disc DVD set and a high-definition HD-DVD version. Did they include bonus features? You betcha. There’s tons of ‘em on the two-discer, including featurettes about the Autobots and Decepticons backstory and the movie’s special effects.

Great, but I think the good people at Paramount missed an opportunity to include the ultimate special feature on the two-discer, 1986’s animated “Transformers: The Movie.”

Was Paramount afraid to include the two films in the same package? Did they figure that Bay’s flick would pale in comparison to the 1986 Sony Wonder Video classic? Well, of course not. They just didn’t care to do it. But what do you think, die-hard Transformers fan? Is the 1986 version better, or at least more fun, than Bay’s CG crunch fest? In the interest of serious scientific debate, cultural progress and killing time, let’s compare ‘em.

Action:
2007: That 30-minute blast of mindless urban destruction that ends the movie is almost worth the ticket and DVD price alone, but the flick takes way too long to get there. Plus, all the short bursts of action before it are cut in between long stretches of characters just standing around or, worse, trying to be funny. The special effects are amazing though.

1986: This one is all action all the time. The thing opens with the brutal killing of a bunch of beloved characters and the fighting never seems to stop. If the Autobots aren’t battling the Decepticons, they’re racing each other, blasting other alien robots or flying through outer space. Of course, it’s all animated in that flat, ’80s, you-gotta-be-pushing-30-to-love-it style.

Winner: Tie

Read the rest of this entry »