The Best SCI-FI/FANTASY Film of 2006: DAY WATCH
04-06-06, 10:19 PM
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The Best SCI-FI/FANTASY Film of 2006: DAY WATCH
Well, yes i'm being repetive as you can see from my previous post about NIGHT WATCH, but DAY WATCH is a masterpiece of its genre and will be the best vampire/fantasy/special effect movie of the year! (I have a feeling THE FOUNTAIN will be the only movie competing against DAY WATCH this year.)This movie is just crazy from start to finish and it's the same feeling I had after watching THE MATRIX. The director, Timur Bekmambetov, has out-David Finchered and out-Jeuneted those two directors out of the park. NIGHT WATCH is small. DAY WATCH is big. But both movies really have to be seen together to get everything and to feel the emotional impact of the climax. The story is a bit more simple compared to the first one, but if you miss one line of the English subtitles, you may get confused very fast. This is why both movies are masterpieces, because each line of dialogue is very important and the filler dialogue is practically invisible in comparison to other crappy written movies. So Fox gave some more money to the director to finish the story with DAY WATCH. Usually when a director gets more money to complete their "vision", the movie sucks (new Star Wars, Ultraviolet and Underworld Evolution - these directors did much better first movies until they got the dough to screw everything up). I know that NIGHT WATCH cost about 2 million to make. I don't know how much DAY WATCH cost with Fox's donation - definitely over 10 million, but Timur Bekmambetov is the real deal and he can achieve his "vision" with any amount of money. That is a true director. This movie looks like an 100 million dollar movie and I have a feeling it was made for less than 20 million dollars. The director is a true artist.
DAY WATCH's story is simple and not as complicated as the first one, but there are visuals and original events happening in this movie that are just so creative and out of this world -you may think you are confused, but it's just the creativity that is throwing one off. And I loved it! The visuals feel like the Wachowski bros gone wild, and of course with the influence of Fincher, Jeunet, and Gilliam. It's nice to see a Russian director influenced by other cultures other than his own. In DAY WATCH, there is great motorcycle chase scene that was more influenced by AKIRA than by MAD MAX. The opening battle scene is like X-MEN 3's Juggernaught riding a horse smashing through walls. I don't want to talk about all the other great special effect scenes. There were so many and they were all so creatively amazing. Wait till you see the magic yo-yo in this movie. It's an unbelievable scene.
Furthermore, it's a very unique vampire movie in which only a sip of blood is taken through out the whole movie. The director ignores the trend of erotic neck sucking that's in every vampire movie. This is one of the small reasons that makes DAY WATCH such a unique genre movie.
THE DVD is NTSC, REGION 1, ANAMORPHIC WIDESCREEN, RUSSIAN DOLBY DIGITAL 5.1, and has ENGLISH SUBTITLES. I have a feeling that Fox is giving DVD sites/forums/and stores a hard time for the existance of this release just as they did with the first NIGHT WATCH dvd. But, as long as there are no video rules yet in Russia, it ain't a bootleg. But I know that Fox will make it as hard as possible to get this DVD in USA. I would act fast and buy it before Fox stops this DVD release.
The video, audio, and English subtitles are pretty good quality! The video is as good as it can get until the Western release of this DVD comes out in probably 2008. But it's anamorphic and looks good enough. The DD 5.1 Russian rocks. You can basically call your DAY WATCH dvd your first audio reference DVD for Russian movies in your dvd collection! The english subtitles are excellent, with a few spelling mistakes. I haven't seen the Americanized NIGHT WATCH movie with the talked-about subtitles and the spelled-out voice overs, but I like how it is on the Russian DVDs of NIGHT WATCH and DAY WATCH that you have to pay serious close attention to each subtitled line or else you may miss something just like that. There are a few extras like filmographies, music video and trailers, and a 25-minute making-of featurette but all in Russian...
Overall, DAY WATCH is a masterpiece of its genre - mixing action, fantasy, thriller, some scares, comedy, and touching relationship themes. I have no idea what they are going to do with this third movie, DUSK WATCH, because everything is resolved in DAY WATCH. If DUSK WATCH is going to be an Americanized Fox prequel, it may be good, just as long as it's Timur Bekmambetov directing, not Tim Story. I'm also curious of what would have happened if Fox had no involvement in these movies. I read that the director had to sum everything up in DAY WATCH with reshoots. I'm curious to see what kind of movies they would be if they were a trilogy. The movies are loosely based on the books - with DAY WATCH being the least like the novel according to Russians that have read the books and seen the movies, but maybe if he was left alone to make the original planned three movies, maybe it would have been closer to the novels. But either way, Timur Bekmambetov knows how to adapt books into a movie. I love both NIGHT WATCH and DAY WATCH. If you didn't like the first one, give this one a try - I know a bunch of Russian people that did not like NIGHT WATCH at all, but really liked DAY WATCH, since it is a more balanced film than the first one. But then again, these two movies are basically one long movie. I wasn't crazy about THE TWO TOWERS or MATRIX RELOADED because there is no beginning or end to these movies, but it's accepted as the middle of a trilogy of telling one story, so it's good as a middle movie. That's what NIGHT WATCH is - just part of a story to set-up a great two-hour climactic DAY WATCH film.
The DVD is on sale at Russian online DVD stores and, surprisingly and legally, it is selling at AMAZON.com!
MOVIE: 10
DVD Video: 7.5
DVD Audio: 8.5
EXTRAS: 5
DAY WATCH's story is simple and not as complicated as the first one, but there are visuals and original events happening in this movie that are just so creative and out of this world -you may think you are confused, but it's just the creativity that is throwing one off. And I loved it! The visuals feel like the Wachowski bros gone wild, and of course with the influence of Fincher, Jeunet, and Gilliam. It's nice to see a Russian director influenced by other cultures other than his own. In DAY WATCH, there is great motorcycle chase scene that was more influenced by AKIRA than by MAD MAX. The opening battle scene is like X-MEN 3's Juggernaught riding a horse smashing through walls. I don't want to talk about all the other great special effect scenes. There were so many and they were all so creatively amazing. Wait till you see the magic yo-yo in this movie. It's an unbelievable scene.
Furthermore, it's a very unique vampire movie in which only a sip of blood is taken through out the whole movie. The director ignores the trend of erotic neck sucking that's in every vampire movie. This is one of the small reasons that makes DAY WATCH such a unique genre movie.
THE DVD is NTSC, REGION 1, ANAMORPHIC WIDESCREEN, RUSSIAN DOLBY DIGITAL 5.1, and has ENGLISH SUBTITLES. I have a feeling that Fox is giving DVD sites/forums/and stores a hard time for the existance of this release just as they did with the first NIGHT WATCH dvd. But, as long as there are no video rules yet in Russia, it ain't a bootleg. But I know that Fox will make it as hard as possible to get this DVD in USA. I would act fast and buy it before Fox stops this DVD release.
The video, audio, and English subtitles are pretty good quality! The video is as good as it can get until the Western release of this DVD comes out in probably 2008. But it's anamorphic and looks good enough. The DD 5.1 Russian rocks. You can basically call your DAY WATCH dvd your first audio reference DVD for Russian movies in your dvd collection! The english subtitles are excellent, with a few spelling mistakes. I haven't seen the Americanized NIGHT WATCH movie with the talked-about subtitles and the spelled-out voice overs, but I like how it is on the Russian DVDs of NIGHT WATCH and DAY WATCH that you have to pay serious close attention to each subtitled line or else you may miss something just like that. There are a few extras like filmographies, music video and trailers, and a 25-minute making-of featurette but all in Russian...
Overall, DAY WATCH is a masterpiece of its genre - mixing action, fantasy, thriller, some scares, comedy, and touching relationship themes. I have no idea what they are going to do with this third movie, DUSK WATCH, because everything is resolved in DAY WATCH. If DUSK WATCH is going to be an Americanized Fox prequel, it may be good, just as long as it's Timur Bekmambetov directing, not Tim Story. I'm also curious of what would have happened if Fox had no involvement in these movies. I read that the director had to sum everything up in DAY WATCH with reshoots. I'm curious to see what kind of movies they would be if they were a trilogy. The movies are loosely based on the books - with DAY WATCH being the least like the novel according to Russians that have read the books and seen the movies, but maybe if he was left alone to make the original planned three movies, maybe it would have been closer to the novels. But either way, Timur Bekmambetov knows how to adapt books into a movie. I love both NIGHT WATCH and DAY WATCH. If you didn't like the first one, give this one a try - I know a bunch of Russian people that did not like NIGHT WATCH at all, but really liked DAY WATCH, since it is a more balanced film than the first one. But then again, these two movies are basically one long movie. I wasn't crazy about THE TWO TOWERS or MATRIX RELOADED because there is no beginning or end to these movies, but it's accepted as the middle of a trilogy of telling one story, so it's good as a middle movie. That's what NIGHT WATCH is - just part of a story to set-up a great two-hour climactic DAY WATCH film.
The DVD is on sale at Russian online DVD stores and, surprisingly and legally, it is selling at AMAZON.com!
MOVIE: 10
DVD Video: 7.5
DVD Audio: 8.5
EXTRAS: 5
Last edited by toddly6666; 04-08-06 at 09:18 AM.
04-06-06, 10:55 PM
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While I thought Night Watch was flatout terrible, I still plan on giving Day Watch a chance and thanks for the heads up on the DVD.
04-07-06, 07:40 AM
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Originally Posted by toddly6666
... it is selling at AMAZON.com! ...
NO ENGLISH SUBTITLES!!!"
Can anyone verify that English subtitles are on the disc. A lower price anywhere?
Thanks.
04-07-06, 07:56 AM
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If you click on the used DVD section of amazon, you will find a seller that is selling a new DAY WATCH NTSC DVD with English subtitles...The dvd with english subtitles can be bought at xploitedcinema.com, alldvd.ca for example...
04-07-06, 12:20 PM
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Originally Posted by toddly6666
If you click on the used DVD section of amazon, ....
04-09-06, 03:39 PM
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Originally Posted by RichC2
While I thought Night Watch was flatout terrible, I still plan on giving Day Watch a chance and thanks for the heads up on the DVD.
04-12-06, 09:38 PM
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I'm afraid that, while the movie was fun to watch, I cannot share the OP's unbridled enthousiasm over DayWatch. Yes NightWatch was messy, overly complicated, suffered from poor acting at times, and the low budget was apparent but, despite those flaws, it managed to retain an aura of mystery, freshness and intriguing "mind fuck" (that's a good thing 
)that are lacking in DayWatch. It seemed to me that DayWatch used the bigger budget, not to build on the strong points of the first film but saddly simply to "Holllywoodize" it into a blockbuster. The characters are more unidimensional (the troubled loner, the love interest, the bad girl, the aristocratic vilain), the plot is more straightforward and becomes predictable in the later half, and some scenes, in dire need of some editing, just run on too long. The first half holds up relatively well but after that, whatever buildup the film had achieved until then gets lost in an orgy of (sometimes impressive) special effects. It's as if the director had thought: "Here we have a big budget and my god we're going to use it! So let's throw in a car that runs on the side of a building here and a giant ferris wheel that rampages thru the streets there...." So instead of intellectual fodder, the film ends up offering little more than eye candy. Entertaining but ultimately unsatisfying.
)that are lacking in DayWatch. It seemed to me that DayWatch used the bigger budget, not to build on the strong points of the first film but saddly simply to "Holllywoodize" it into a blockbuster. The characters are more unidimensional (the troubled loner, the love interest, the bad girl, the aristocratic vilain), the plot is more straightforward and becomes predictable in the later half, and some scenes, in dire need of some editing, just run on too long. The first half holds up relatively well but after that, whatever buildup the film had achieved until then gets lost in an orgy of (sometimes impressive) special effects. It's as if the director had thought: "Here we have a big budget and my god we're going to use it! So let's throw in a car that runs on the side of a building here and a giant ferris wheel that rampages thru the streets there...." So instead of intellectual fodder, the film ends up offering little more than eye candy. Entertaining but ultimately unsatisfying.
04-13-06, 05:30 AM
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eXcentris,
I know that FOX tampered with DAY WATCH. Although I loved it as is, there is still a better movie that would have been if FOX had not tampered with the production. DAY WATCH was practically finished filming when NIGHT WATCH and DAY WATCH were bought by FOX. FOX told them to finish up the trilogy in two movies instead of three. So they had to do reshoots and delay the film. Considering the history of Hollywood movie companies rushing and then screwing up films, I think Timur Bekmambetov did an excellent job coping with the reshoot/rushing aspect in DAY WATCH. I would have liked if DAY WATCH was a three hour movie, because I couldn't get enough of it and I wanted more, but it turned out to be a totally more balanced and better movie than NIGHT WATCH.
NIGHT WATCH and DAY WATCH are like two different movies. The first one deals more with magic, time funnels, bad luck, superstition wacky stuff in which you have to watch a bunch of times to understand. DAY WATCH is basically a really good and original action movie that is more a who-done-it thriller.
The random special effects may bug you, but remember that Timur Bekmambetov was a music video/tv commercial director and the NIGHT/DAY WATCH movies are basically like portfolio movies for him to get noticed and do bigger and more succesful films in the future. So he's gonna put some wacky original special effect scenes in his first films. It may have seemed Hollywoodish, but each action/special effect scene was totally original and bizzare. And that is great eye candy!
I know that FOX tampered with DAY WATCH. Although I loved it as is, there is still a better movie that would have been if FOX had not tampered with the production. DAY WATCH was practically finished filming when NIGHT WATCH and DAY WATCH were bought by FOX. FOX told them to finish up the trilogy in two movies instead of three. So they had to do reshoots and delay the film. Considering the history of Hollywood movie companies rushing and then screwing up films, I think Timur Bekmambetov did an excellent job coping with the reshoot/rushing aspect in DAY WATCH. I would have liked if DAY WATCH was a three hour movie, because I couldn't get enough of it and I wanted more, but it turned out to be a totally more balanced and better movie than NIGHT WATCH.
NIGHT WATCH and DAY WATCH are like two different movies. The first one deals more with magic, time funnels, bad luck, superstition wacky stuff in which you have to watch a bunch of times to understand. DAY WATCH is basically a really good and original action movie that is more a who-done-it thriller.
The random special effects may bug you, but remember that Timur Bekmambetov was a music video/tv commercial director and the NIGHT/DAY WATCH movies are basically like portfolio movies for him to get noticed and do bigger and more succesful films in the future. So he's gonna put some wacky original special effect scenes in his first films. It may have seemed Hollywoodish, but each action/special effect scene was totally original and bizzare. And that is great eye candy!
