Day Watch (2006)

A man who serves in the war between the forces of Light and Dark comes into possession of a device that can restore life to Moscow, which was nearly destroyed by an apocalyptic event.

Director:

Timur Bekmambetov

Writers:

Timur Bekmambetov, Sergey Lukyanenko (novel)

Stars:

Konstantin Khabenskiy, Mariya Poroshina, Vladimir Menshov

8 wins & 10 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Konstantin Khabenskiy	...	Anton
Mariya Poroshina	...	Svetlana
Vladimir Menshov	...	Geser
Galina Tyunina	...	Olga
Viktor Verzhbitskiy	...	Zavulon
Zhanna Friske	...	Alisa
Dmitriy Martynov	...	Egor (as Dima Martynov)
Valeriy Zolotukhin	...	Otets Kosti
Aleksey Chadov	...	Kostya
Nurzhuman Ikhtymbaev	...	Zoar
Aleksey Maklakov	...	Semyon
Aleksandr Samoylenko	...	Medved
Yuriy Kutsenko	...	Ignat (as Gosha Kutsenko)
Irina Yakovleva	...	Galina Rogova
Georgiy Dronov	...	Tolik (as Egor Dronov)

Storyline

Anton belongs to the Forces of the Light as do his powerful girlfriend and apprentice, but his son is a powerful teenager from the Darkness and Anton protects him. When the balance between Light and Darkness is affected by the death of some evil vampires, Anton is framed and accused of the murders, and he chases an ancient chalk that has the power of changing the destiny of its owner.

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Plot Keywords:

year 2006 | 2000s | year 1992 | 1990s | moscow | 

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Taglines:

First film of the year

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Genres:

Action | Fantasy | Horror | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence

Did You Know?

Trivia

When Kostya's father, played by Valeriy Zolotukhin, arrives at Yegor's party, he is greeted by Anton as "Valeri Sergeyevich", which is Zolotukhin's real name.

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Goofs

When Galina gets killed, she drops some fish. Later, during the crime scene inspection, the fish is gone.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Narrator: Why does the wind come? To cover tracks where we have passed... so no one thinks we are still alive. It was long ago and no one can remember now how the Warriors of Light and the Warriors of Darkness clashed on the Bridge of Justice... how blood was spilled... how the great Jassar's heart could not bear it and he stopped the battle. But once, when the night is longer than the day, a new Great One will come and the world will be plunged into darkness. And nothing can save it, except...

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Crazy Credits

The Russian title of the movie is displayed as a pattern of lit windows at the front side of the hotel "Kosmos". The international version has an additional title card which appears before the beginning of the film.

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Alternate Versions

The Russian version is approx. 20 minutes longer than the international cinema release.

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Connections

Featured in WatchMojo: Top 10 Hit by a Bus Scenes in Movies (2016)

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Soundtracks

Gop-gop
Music by Andrey Danilko (as A. Danilko)
Lyrics by Andrey Danilko (as A. Danilko)
Performed by Andrey Danilko (uncredited)
Mama Myuzik Ukraina / OAO Pervoye muzykalnoye izdatelstvo
Played when Semyon and Olga chase to Yegor's birthday party, then at the party itself

User Reviews

I need to get myself one of those yo-yos...

I must admit that before this film I was never a real fan of the Watcher series. A Russian friend of mine advised me to watch Nochnoy Dozor. I was impressed, but hardly blown away. So I went into this film expecting another worthless sequel Hollywood seems to be churning out by the dozen. But this is not Hollywood, and this is not another worthless sequel. In fact, this is surprisingly amazing. Every aspect of the original have been amplified up ten times until you can almost feel the room reverberating. We're spoilt with so much cinematic impact right from the start. The CGI landscapes are breathtaking and the epic battles are just as panoramic as something out of a LoTR film.

The cast is kept the same as the original, all still pitch-perfect in their roles. I can't imagine anyone other than Khabensky playing our helplessly flawed hero. The premise might seem overused (Light versus Dark) but the background plot is actually very unique. I love how the leaders can joke around with each other when taking time off being sworn mortal enemies. And you can tell that the film is a book adaptation by how deep the story goes. Very few aspects are covered completely, leaving you to wonder what motives have some of the characters really got, and what was decidedly cut out of the film version. The soundtrack is one of the most erratic ones I've ever heard but works perfectly for this film. One scene a romantic love score, the next some adrenaline pumping heavy metal, immediately followed by a chirpy joke song. I honestly can't say much about the script since I don't understand Russian, but I feel that there are some in-jokes that would be hilarious if only I understood them. And that's the surprising thing about the film - despite all of its mind-blowing action, there is still time for the writer to fit in some matured dry humour!

I've now been thoroughly converted into a Watcher fan. The first thing I'll do is hunt down some English copies of the books. It feels to me as if the first film is just an introduction to these characters and leads up to the second film where the action heats up. A little surprised by the conclusive ending but can't wait to see what they'll do with it in the next film!

Details

Official Sites:

Fox Searchlight [United States]

Country:

Russia

Language:

Russian

Release Date:

15 June 2007 (USA)

Also Known As:

Night Watch 2

Filming Locations:

Kazakhstan

Box Office

Budget:

$4,200,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$46,730, 3 June 2007

Gross USA:

$450,897

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$42,918,532

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bazelevs Production, Channel One Russia, TABBAK

Technical Specs

Runtime:

132 min 146 min (unrated) 139 min (DVD)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1