This Russian gem has been a long time coming for Australian audiences. It showed at the closing night of the Sydney Film Festival earlier this year but tickets were hard to come by (and expensive) so I didn't make it. Fortunately, my membership to FBi allowed me to see it before the official release date (supposedly 18 Oct), plus one AND with a free beer! The only drawback was that it was showing at The Chauvel in Paddington.
First, a little about the series. Day Watch is the second in a trilogy, following 2004's Night Watch with the third to come, reportedly called Twilight. The film trilogy is based on the tetralogy of successful books by Sergei Lukyanenko.
Now, Night Watch is a rather scary, violent action fantasy film set in Moscow where Light Others and Dark Others roam the earth. A thousand years ago there was a battle between light and dark until the leaders realised that the sides were evenly matched so they formed an uneasy truce. The film is basically about how each side tries to gain the upper hand through plenty of grey areas.
Day Watch, on the other hand, still has a fair bit of action in a fantasy setting, but it is less violent than its predecessor and it is also incredibly funny throughout. I'm not sure whether the comedic elements meant that the filmmakers took this film less seriously, but it is quite a different film from Night Watch, despite containing a familiar setting and familiar characters.
Having been introduced to the main characters in the previous film, it is to the film's credit that it manages to reveal aspects of the characters that were previously absent, giving the protagonists - Anton, Svetlana, Olga and Yegor - greater depth.
Konstantin Khabensky does very well as Anton, playing an almost anti-hero role at some parts. He portrays an ordinary guy with ordinary human feelings - protecting his son while feeling inadequate next to his all-powerful main squeeze (Svetlana), getting hot-headed - bordering on petulant - about his situation but being able to use his skills to the best end possible. Anton is the greyest Other in the film, a complexity that makes his plight more interesting.
Another character that gets good air time is Kostya's father (we never learn his actual name), Anton's vampire neighbour. Kostya has just attained a licence to kill (previously he lived off animal blood) but his father is scared that once Kostya has had a taste for human blood there will be no stopping him from continuing to kill. Kostya's father makes a deal with Head Dark Dude Zavulon (which sounds more like a brand of Russian washing powder the more I say it) that for services rendered, Zavulon will use his powers to turn Kostya human again. This puts Kostya's father in a bit of a bind because he is a law-abiding vampire, which is why he doesn't want Kostya to keep his licence to kill, but to turn Kostya human, he has to do things that break the ancient truce. This grey area is well demonstrated in the film.
Ironically, all this greyness occurs in a riot of colour, the dark nights of Moscow illuminated by flashes of Geser's (Head Light Dude) camera, red red blood, Yegor's birthday party and Anton's bright green satin shirt (above), which he stole off The Parrot, a dark agent sent to track him. It is this palette, the slick special effects and the animated subtitles that make Day Watch a treat to watch.
If you're any way partial to exploring the shades of grey in the good vs evil debate, body swap humour, random but amusing character moments, lots of dark broken by violent colour, children that look Satanic or time travel, this is the movie for you. I realise I haven't given a very good review but it's all so hard to describe. Just see it and you'll understand.
Film rating: 7/10
Enjoyment rating: 9/10
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