Day Watch
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STARS > Konstantin Khabensky, Mariya Poroshina, Viktor Verzhbitsky, Aleksei Chadov, Zhanna Friske, Galina Tyunina DIRECTOR > Timur Bekmambetov [3/5] With special effects straight out of The Matrix, plot and thematic elements from Underworld, Star Wars and The Lord Of The Rings, plus time travel, transmogrification, vampires and ho-lee-shit action sequences-like when Euro-pop starlet Friske defies gravity by gunning a sports car across the face of a Moscow skyscraper-the only thing preventing Day Watch from being a total box-office ball-buster is the fact that it's in Russian. (Obviously the daunting subtitles weren't an issue to those who actually speak Russian, thus catapulting this thriller to the top-grossing spot of the country's post-Soviet era last year.) But even the subtitles make this sequel to 2004's Night Watch-and the second film in a trilogy based upon the sci-fi novels by Sergei Lukyanenko-cooler than it would be otherwise, especially when they decode the dialogue in ways that visually mimic the inflections of the actors' voices. The plot is labyrinthine, to say the least: Will the tenuous truce between the forces of Dark and Light be broken? Will the ancient and history-altering Chalk Of Fate fall into the wrong hands? Will Moscow be leveled in the devastating crossfire of a supernatural power struggle? Luckily for American sci-fi fans, the answer to all of these questions is yes. -J. Bennett |
