Dnevnoy dozor (2006)

Director:

Timur Bekmambetov

Writers:

Timur Bekmambetov (writer)
Sergei Lukyanenko (novel)

Release Date:

1 January 2006 (Belarus)

Genre:

Action | Fantasy | Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

First film of the year

Plot:

A man (Khabensky) 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.

Plot Keywords:

Framed | Murder | Death | Blood | Chalk

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Konstantin Khabenskiy	...	Anton
Mariya Poroshina	...	Svetlana
Vladimir Menshov	...	Geser
Galina Tyunina	...	Olga
Viktor Verzhbitskiy	...	Zavulon
Zhanna Friske	...	Alisa
Dmitriy Martynov	...	Yegor (as Dima Martynov)
Valeriy Zolotukhin	...	Kostya's Father
Aleksey Chadov	...	Kostya
Nurzhuman Ikhtymbayev	...	Zoar
Aleksey Maklakov	...	Semyon
Aleksandr Samoylenko	...	Bear (Medved)
Yuriy Kutsenko	...	Ignat (as Gosha Kutsenko)
Irina Yakovleva	...	Galina Rogova
Georgiy Dronov	...	Tolik (as Yegor Dronov)

Also Known As:

Day Watch (Australia) (video title) (International: English title)
Night Watch 2 (International: English title) (USA) (TV title)
Дневной дозор (Russia)
Night Patrol 2 (Europe: English title)

Runtime:

132 min | USA:146 min (unrated version) | Spain:139 min (DVD edition) | Argentina:146 min

Country:

Russia

Language:

Russian

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Australia:MA | Ireland:15A | UK:15 | Singapore:NC-16 | New Zealand:R16 | South Korea:15 | Germany:16 | Peru:18 | Finland:K-15 | Argentina:16 | Netherlands:16 | Spain:13 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Almaty, Kazakhstan

Company:

Bazelevs Production

Trivia:

The original movie title was "Nochnoy dozor 2: Mel Sudby" (Night Watch 2: The Chalk of Fate), as the movie is based on two stories from Sergei Lukyanenko's book "Night Watch". A teaser trailer with the title "Nochnoy dozor 2" could be seen on the Russian DVD of Turetskiy gambit (2005). A few months before release, the title was changed to "Dnevnoy dozor" (Day Watch). The end credits reflect the title change to "Dnevnoy dozor", though they keep the subtitle "Mel Sudby".

Goofs:

Anachronisms: The car number plates shown in "Moscow, 1992" don't match the actual Russian license plates of 1992.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Narrator: Why does the wind blow? It wipes the tracks where we have passed. So that no one can tell, whether we still exist.

Movie Connections:

References 9 rota (2005)

Very good; shame a lot of references will be lost on Western audiences

Well, I watched Day Watch with my American girlfriend in a St. Petersburg cinema a few hours ago, and we both enjoyed it. The relatively huge success of of the first episode obviously allowed the producers to pump more cash into this second installment, and it shows throughout the film. The CG sequences are slicker and more impressive, and so is pretty much everything else, including the consistently confident directing. Even the fact that the premise is so annoyingly weak doesn't spoil the fun as much as it did in the first film.

As a Russian though, the thing I liked best was the unmistakable Russian-ness of the movie. As far as film-making is concerned, I don't normally mean that as a compliment, but with Day Watch it is different. While it can definitely appeal to a wider international audience (my girlfriend, albeit a bit of a Russophile, is an indication of that), it is at the same time literally packed with all sorts of clever wordplay and references to various realities of Russian life, ranging from political satire to hilariously blatant product placement.

Even though I can enjoy a less obnoxious art-house film every now and then, on the whole I prefer clever commercial movies, and Day Watch falls into that category very neatly.