Day Watch
April 15th 2008 02:36
Category: Videos
Based on the novel by: Sergei Lukyanenko & Vladimir Vasilev.
Director: Timur Bekmambetov.
Producers: Konstantin Ernst & Anatoly Maximov.
Screenplay by: Sergei Lukyanenko, Timur Bekmambetov & Alexander Talal.
Starring: Konstantin Khabensky (Anton), Maria Poroshina (Svetlana), Dmitry Martynov (Yegor), Galina Tyunina (Olga), Vladmir Menshov (Geser), Viktor Verzhbitsky (Zavulon), Nurzhuman Ikhtymbayev (Zoar), Zhanna Friske (Alicia), Alexei Chadov (Kostya) & Valery Zolotkunin (Kostya’s father).
Produced by: Fox Searchlight Pictures in association with Channel One Russia.
Released by: Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment.
Running Time: 139 minutes. Rating: MA 15 .
Remember the Russian movie Night Watch that was released a few years back? It was all about how in the world we live in their exists alongside the society of everyday mundane normal people a whole world of what can only be described as supernatural entities; vampires, shape changers, witches etc Others if you will. That is how they are referred to in the film and it seems that following along with dualistic notions these Others are divided into two camps – Light and Dark. The Light is lead by Lord Geser whilst the Dark is lead by General Zavulon, one day the two sides met on a bridge somewhere in the wilds of Mother Russia and a great battle ensued. From that conflict in which neither side could gain a significant advantage emerged the Great Truce, both Light and Dark agreed that if they continued to fight they would end up destroying everything and no significant victory would be gained for either side. Since that point in time the uneasy truce has been maintained, primarily through the efforts of two organisations – the Night Watch and the Day Watch.
The Night Watch monitors the Dark others whilst the Day Watch keeps an eye on the Light, things were going along at a relatively normal pace until the actions of Anton Gorodetsky, and Anton didn’t want to become a father and paid a witch to cast a spell on his wife to abort the as yet unborn child. Such an action had consequences, it lead to him being recruited into the Night Watch inadvertently and sparked off a whole chain of events that lead almost to the total destruction of Moscow and the estrangement of his now teenage son and his conversion to the Dark. It seems that Anton’s son Yegor is a prophesised Great One, an Other of tremendous potential and ability who is capable of shifting the balance between the two factions depending upon which side he chooses. Unfortunately he chooses the Dark after witnessing the actions of his father Anton, though Anton himself has been lead down the garden path and put into this precise situation by Zavulon. The chaos that had been occurring in Moscow and surrounds allowed the Dark’s General to manipulate events to his agenda and thereby gain a powerful ally for his own side and cause.
As an interesting aside Anton’s son in that first film was called Igor yet for some reason in this film, the sequel to Night Watch, he has become Yegor. Still as a friend of mine, Richard, once explained to me the actual novels on which these films are based are very different from their big screen counterparts. The characters are the same but the plot is entirely something else, still it has to be said that I enjoyed the first film and so when I saw this sitting on the shelf in the local video store it was quickly snapped up faster than you can say Boris Ivanovich and carried home to be perused at my leisure. Once again the drama occurs in the vast metropolis of Moscow, the beating and neon lit heart of Mother Russia though when the movie starts it is not in the capital of the Russian Federation nor is it even in the present day. Instead events commence in the wilds of Northern Iran amongst the army of the famed Mongol Warlord; Tamerlane.
Now Tamerlane is after something known as the Chalk of Fate, this particular piece of chalk has the property of rewriting one’s fate and changing it completely. Being possessed of such power and potential the chalk was kept inside a temple inside a mazelike fortress and guarded by Dark Others who had no desire to let something like this fall into the ‘wrong’ hands. Obviously they didn’t plan on someone like Tamerlane, from an ancient piece of parchment he manages to work out how to penetrate the maze, all that needs to be dealt with are the guardians and both he and his army are capable enough to handle that angle. With such knowledge in his hands Tamerlane boldly rides forth and manages to seize the Chalk of Fate and from that moment things shift into downtown, neon lit Moscow. It seems that Trainee Svetlana has been reading a book on Tamerlane whilst on a routine run through the city with Anton. They are in a Gorsvet Light and Power Company truck and dressed as company employees, all cover for their activities as members of the Night Watch.
Watching this film and this predecessor Night Watch I cannot help but ponder whether or not there is a subtle social commentary going on about Russian society in both films. My wondering is based upon this concept; the Light others all look like poor struggling working class individuals, a rare few of them being slightly better off looking whilst the Dark others are dressed in the best, or wearing cutting edge ‘trendy’ fashions, driving flash cars and living the dream as it were. It’s almost as if the two factions are not only representing the dichotomy between good and evil but poor and rich, at least on a material level.
So Anton and Svetlana are travelling around Moscow when the answer a call regarding a Dark other drinking the life force from an old woman in public. Anton isn’t interested in the call as he has a trainee, Svetlana, on his hands and he has no desire to put her in danger. Svetlana or Sveta as she is referred to has other ideas. And thus begins the roller coaster ride that is Day Watch, although in reality as has already been revealed this is not the actual beginning that occurred all those years ago in Northern Iran with Tamerlane. Essentially if there is any driving focus to the plot of Day Watch it would have to be that of consequences and how one deals with them, the drama that occurs in the life of Anton and Sveta has all taken place due to that fateful decision he made twelve years ago to try and have his unborn child killed via magic. And because of that very fact that is what has affected the greater scheme of things, the sudden emergence of a Great One who will alter the balance between light and dark.
In the end though it isn’t about who is a Great One, who is more powerful, what potential or capabilities a particular other has, whether Light or Dark is stronger, in the end it all comes down to the age old concept of if you had the chance to change something you regretted would you? As everything hangs in the balance in Day Watch it all boils down to one simple decision and one simple act. And paradoxically this is all shown in the first few moments of the film with Tamerlane trying to work out how he and his minions are going to get a hold of the chalk of fate, he realises that the solution is not complicated, that all it needs is a simple choice and a simple act.
Day Watch certainly demonstrates that the Russian film industry is capable of mixing it with the best of Hollywood, and I’d go so far as to say that they are miles ahead in putting out sequels. They have obviously grasped the notion that its not only about effects and big name stars, its also about story and if you don’t have a story that can sustain the drama and action then its never going to be a good film. Fortunately Day Watch doesn’t suffer from this problem and its well worth a perusal at your leisure.
Director: Timur Bekmambetov.
Producers: Konstantin Ernst & Anatoly Maximov.
Screenplay by: Sergei Lukyanenko, Timur Bekmambetov & Alexander Talal.
Starring: Konstantin Khabensky (Anton), Maria Poroshina (Svetlana), Dmitry Martynov (Yegor), Galina Tyunina (Olga), Vladmir Menshov (Geser), Viktor Verzhbitsky (Zavulon), Nurzhuman Ikhtymbayev (Zoar), Zhanna Friske (Alicia), Alexei Chadov (Kostya) & Valery Zolotkunin (Kostya’s father).
Produced by: Fox Searchlight Pictures in association with Channel One Russia.
Running Time: 139 minutes. Rating: MA 15 .
Remember the Russian movie Night Watch that was released a few years back? It was all about how in the world we live in their exists alongside the society of everyday mundane normal people a whole world of what can only be described as supernatural entities; vampires, shape changers, witches etc Others if you will. That is how they are referred to in the film and it seems that following along with dualistic notions these Others are divided into two camps – Light and Dark. The Light is lead by Lord Geser whilst the Dark is lead by General Zavulon, one day the two sides met on a bridge somewhere in the wilds of Mother Russia and a great battle ensued. From that conflict in which neither side could gain a significant advantage emerged the Great Truce, both Light and Dark agreed that if they continued to fight they would end up destroying everything and no significant victory would be gained for either side. Since that point in time the uneasy truce has been maintained, primarily through the efforts of two organisations – the Night Watch and the Day Watch.
As an interesting aside Anton’s son in that first film was called Igor yet for some reason in this film, the sequel to Night Watch, he has become Yegor. Still as a friend of mine, Richard, once explained to me the actual novels on which these films are based are very different from their big screen counterparts. The characters are the same but the plot is entirely something else, still it has to be said that I enjoyed the first film and so when I saw this sitting on the shelf in the local video store it was quickly snapped up faster than you can say Boris Ivanovich and carried home to be perused at my leisure. Once again the drama occurs in the vast metropolis of Moscow, the beating and neon lit heart of Mother Russia though when the movie starts it is not in the capital of the Russian Federation nor is it even in the present day. Instead events commence in the wilds of Northern Iran amongst the army of the famed Mongol Warlord; Tamerlane.
Now Tamerlane is after something known as the Chalk of Fate, this particular piece of chalk has the property of rewriting one’s fate and changing it completely. Being possessed of such power and potential the chalk was kept inside a temple inside a mazelike fortress and guarded by Dark Others who had no desire to let something like this fall into the ‘wrong’ hands. Obviously they didn’t plan on someone like Tamerlane, from an ancient piece of parchment he manages to work out how to penetrate the maze, all that needs to be dealt with are the guardians and both he and his army are capable enough to handle that angle. With such knowledge in his hands Tamerlane boldly rides forth and manages to seize the Chalk of Fate and from that moment things shift into downtown, neon lit Moscow. It seems that Trainee Svetlana has been reading a book on Tamerlane whilst on a routine run through the city with Anton. They are in a Gorsvet Light and Power Company truck and dressed as company employees, all cover for their activities as members of the Night Watch.
Watching this film and this predecessor Night Watch I cannot help but ponder whether or not there is a subtle social commentary going on about Russian society in both films. My wondering is based upon this concept; the Light others all look like poor struggling working class individuals, a rare few of them being slightly better off looking whilst the Dark others are dressed in the best, or wearing cutting edge ‘trendy’ fashions, driving flash cars and living the dream as it were. It’s almost as if the two factions are not only representing the dichotomy between good and evil but poor and rich, at least on a material level.
So Anton and Svetlana are travelling around Moscow when the answer a call regarding a Dark other drinking the life force from an old woman in public. Anton isn’t interested in the call as he has a trainee, Svetlana, on his hands and he has no desire to put her in danger. Svetlana or Sveta as she is referred to has other ideas. And thus begins the roller coaster ride that is Day Watch, although in reality as has already been revealed this is not the actual beginning that occurred all those years ago in Northern Iran with Tamerlane. Essentially if there is any driving focus to the plot of Day Watch it would have to be that of consequences and how one deals with them, the drama that occurs in the life of Anton and Sveta has all taken place due to that fateful decision he made twelve years ago to try and have his unborn child killed via magic. And because of that very fact that is what has affected the greater scheme of things, the sudden emergence of a Great One who will alter the balance between light and dark.
In the end though it isn’t about who is a Great One, who is more powerful, what potential or capabilities a particular other has, whether Light or Dark is stronger, in the end it all comes down to the age old concept of if you had the chance to change something you regretted would you? As everything hangs in the balance in Day Watch it all boils down to one simple decision and one simple act. And paradoxically this is all shown in the first few moments of the film with Tamerlane trying to work out how he and his minions are going to get a hold of the chalk of fate, he realises that the solution is not complicated, that all it needs is a simple choice and a simple act.
Day Watch certainly demonstrates that the Russian film industry is capable of mixing it with the best of Hollywood, and I’d go so far as to say that they are miles ahead in putting out sequels. They have obviously grasped the notion that its not only about effects and big name stars, its also about story and if you don’t have a story that can sustain the drama and action then its never going to be a good film. Fortunately Day Watch doesn’t suffer from this problem and its well worth a perusal at your leisure.
| 45 |
| Vote |
Subscribe to this blog
