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First things first, let me say that the people who walked out were college kids who probably knew little about aesthetics and whose minds were too small to deal with subtitles. Wankers, in other words. This is my only explanation as to why someone would walk out of such a good film.

Background

What follows is from Wikipedia, because I can’t be arsed to detail all the intricate plot and ideology details.

It is New Year’s Eve of 2006, more than one year after the events of Night Watch. Anton Gorodetsky, the protagonist of the first film, finds himself in the middle of an approaching conflict between the Light and Dark Others, who are still bound with an uneasy truce. Anton is still a Night Watch operative, now working with his trainee and romantic interest, Svetlana (the healer from the first film, now a Light Other). As his son Yegor has now become a Dark Other, Anton is forced to secretly destroy evidence of Yegor’s attacks on normal people, which violate the treaty, leaving the Night Watch unable to sentence Yegor.

This describes what happens in approximately the first 45 minutes of the film, and if you want the back story watch Night Watch. The story escalates from this into pretty much a full blown war (which takes place in a hotel penthouse), and it escalates very well indeed.

Direction

Directed by Timur Bekmambetov, who is a Russian fellow, Day Watch is beautiful. Modern day Moscow is presented as dilapidated, rustic, and extremely grungy. Never has such a hostile-looking environment been so endearing. Lighting, costume and special effects all add to the atmosphere; nothing seems out of place, everything seems considered.

The film is in Russian language, so naturally it’s subtitled. As in Night Watch, the subtitles are animated. Yes, animated subtitles. It’s genius. Words bump and shake if someone is knocking on a door, they explode into pieces when buildings do, they turn red and drip blood when conversation turns particularly morbid. They add a whole new dimension to the foreign film, they make reading them more than just necessary.

Go and see it

I’m at work, so I can’t spend years writing this, just get Night Watch out on DVD, watch it, then go and see Day Watch at the flicks, you’ll love it (if you have any remote interest in either action/horror films/comic books).