Customer Reviews

Day Watch (Unrated)

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(24)
3 star:		(16)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

This was a highly enjoyable movie. Now, mind you, it has little to do with the book series outside of the same characters - it was (very, extremely) loosely adapted from the latter part of the "Night Watch" novel, so don't expect it to at all relate to "Day Watch" the book. Like the first movie, there was a lot of great action and watching Anton get his butt kicked all over the place - which hey, that's why we love him, right? Not to mention the whole scene at Yegor's party. But you'll have to watch it to see that - it's just a good thing the old witch wasn't holding a grudge after her 12 years in the zoo as a toad (definitely HAVE to WATCH IT *grin*).

We watched it in Russian with the subtitles. They weren't as much a part of the movie as the original - but they still occasionally were created so be a part of the scenery.

(EDIT): After watching the added features, I am even more impressed with this movie. The birthday party scene was filmed in a most unique manner. The director simply rounded up a bunch of people (if I recall correctly, it was a business conference) and gave them free food and drink. After a couple of hours, when everyone was nice and buzzed, they started filtering in the actors and filming. This sort of off-the-cuff manner of filming was an enormous risk but it paid off brilliantly - most of the people in that scene, in the background, are really just people at a party, doing what people at a party do. I was VERY impressed! (/EDIT)

Fans of good sci-fi/action/thrillers will enjoy this, as will people who enjoyed the first movie. If you haven't yet read the books, do watch the movies FIRST; which is pretty much good advice for any movie adapted from a book. But still a high rating from me for this movie!

I loved Night Watch and I think this film is a great wrap up to everyone's story arc. I saw both in the theater and bought the DVDs as soon as they came out. However, for me, the animated subtitles are about 1/4 of the fun. It makes it feel like a comic book and just gives it that edge. So why oh why did Fox not release that version for the DVD? I find it baffling that someone made the decision to not include them even as an option. Fox DVDs have been a mixed bag as of late and I think I will stop buying them sight unseen and rather rent them first to see if the DVD is good. It is unfortunate that Fox is so inconsistent in the quality of their releases.

Very intersting looking movie with very original special effects. Unfortunatly unless these discs are pirated, the legal Russian release does not contain and english dub or english subtitles. There are plans I've heard to bring the second movie in this trilogy to America, now only if they'd release Final Watch in Russia. That'll probably happen summer 2007 I suppose.

While I think that Daywatch is a good movie, I did not think it was as good or action packed as its predecessor. The pace was slower, and the ending was sort of.. meh. I liked the ending of the first much better, it was darker and rang more true.. Also... who was the moron that decided to take out the original subtitles? That was one of the best things in the original release, and now they're gone?!!! What a bunch of dopes those guys at Fox are. The subtitles of Nightwatch were the most original and creative I had ever seen, and while the theatricalk release of Daywatch had similair but not as inventive subtitles, it was still better than the boring bottom whites subtitles. Too bad Fox... you screwed up.

As it's already been mentioned many times before, I felt that Fox made a huge mistake releasing this movie with the plain white subtitles. One of the first draws to Night Watch for me was the subtitle play. The fact that they were actively incorporated in the film itself was really cool. I saw the sequel in the theaters in the first week and walked away feeling that it was even better than Night Watch. For one thing, it developed many of the background characters much more thoroughly. For another thing, the subtitles again were really fun to watch...almost advancing the plot themselves.

Then...I saw the DVD. Had I seen this on DVD first, there is no question about it...I would have probably HATED this movie. The plain white subtitles really took a LOT from the movie quality. I may also be mistaken that other things were removed (though I can't think of any example).

That said...wait to buy this version. Eventually Fox will want to suck more money from people by releasing the "original theater release" version. Wait for that before buying.

A few years ago I saw Nightwatch in theathers accidentally and left feeling confused and not really liking it, but days later still had that movie on my mind. I soon realized why I didnt like it-at first. These movies are probably the most original movies since the early 1980s when Bladerunner, Aliens, Star Wars, etc...popularized the new genre combination of action sci-fi horror. Unlike those films, and the millions that copied them, Nightwatch delivers the same package but in a totally different and selfish way.
Daywatch is a much better movie than Nightwatch. The budget and effects are like night and day between the two respectively. After I eventually appreciated Nightwatch, the only flaw I could give it is that it had low budget feel in terms of production and design. Here Daywatch ramps that up exponentially and also ramps up the action, style and plot exponentially!
I love the originality of both movies and Daywatch must be the best sequel in the history of sequels. The saturation of Russian culture, style and personality into these films is a bit of a shock at first but you get to love it and appreciate the way its done. I've never seen a Russian or Eastern European movie that made me think "hey, I should go visit there" until these movies. I expect more goodies like this from Russia and this director/producer in the future. The cast was also brillant in acting and carried the plot well. I also like the decentralization of the main character. In Hollywood or western story telling everything centers around good vs. bad and good is usually our hero and we follow him/her for 2 hours on the screen whiles him/her try to stop the bad.
In these films good can be bad and bad can be very entertaining! The story follows everyone and that makes everything in the story count for something. I know it sounds confusing but when you see this film you will get what Im saying around the time they Lights try to hide Anton.
5 stars!!! Definately in my all time top ten movies next to Bladerunner (for pace), 2046 (for cinematography), Alien (for kick azz-ness), Brazil (for wow factor), THX1138 (for originality), even the timeless classic Casablanca is well rivaled via the sweet romance we get in Daywatch.

I just want to point out that the English subtitles on this DVD are not the same as the ones in the theatrical release. If you saw Day Watch in the theaters, you probably remember the animated subtitles. This DVD doesn't have them for some reason. I don't know why, since the DVD of Night Watch has the animated subtitles. This isn't a huge drawback, but you should probably be aware of this before buying this DVD.

I still love this movie. Besides the visuals and effects, what makes this movie so great is its sense of humor. I love all the satirical elements. For instance, the dark others wear trendy clothes and look like the Russian mafia. Critics seem to miss the fact that this movie is often supposed to be funny.

Then there's the themes of love, parenthood, and responsibility. This film has so much. It's not for everyone, but I highly recommend this film.

I saw Day Watch in the theater and thought it was better there. There isn't any difference in the dialog or the length of the film between the DVD and the theatrical release. The big difference comes in how the English subtitles are delivered. Unlike its predecessor, Night Watch, and the theatrical release, the DVD does not have subtitles that are integrated into the film. Instead, they're an option you must chose and they appear as normal subtitles. This is very disappointing, as the integrated subtitles allow the viewer to see more of the action when reading the text. Subtitles aside, the plot is pretty solid and the cinematics are amazing. Russia holds the next generation for special effects.

I watched this having only seen a few previews about a piece of chalk and seeing Anton jump through the bus billboard, so I didn't actually know this was a sequel or that it was based off books or anything. That said...

I actually was completely fascinated. I did use the spoken english option which I very much appreciated and the voices didn't detract from the movie.

It was a little confusing but it was easy to piece together the story line. The vampire bit was a little interesting point, because that's when my brain went "huh?" but dutifully it filed it away to be thought of later.

The action was good, the acting nice, the plot was pretty good as well (now I just need to watch the first one!) as in it wasn't hard to pick up on. And there was so much detail that it would easily stand a second viewing.

Definately recommend this as a buy.

I thought this was a tremendous sequel to Night Watch and while it wasn't particularly faithful to the book it was still an exciting movie - fast-paced, with clever twists and turns throughout. But if you're looking for something with animated subtitles, this is not what you get here. But, instead, you get the complete and original Russian version of the film (which the version of Night Watch with animated subtitles was not). I doubt that Day Watch would make any sense at all if you hadn't seen Night Watch and, even then, some things seem to happen at lightning speed, and you can be left a little confused. But that's just all the more reason to buy the DVD so you an watch it again and again. For me, at least, that's well worth it.