Movie Review – Daywatch

Director – Timur Bekmambetov.

Cast – Konstantin Khabensky, Aleksei Chadov, Gosha Kutsenko, Igor Lifanov and Zhanna Friske.

Daywatch is the second in a trilogy of films based on the “Watch” novels by Russian author Sergei Lukyanenko. It was preceded by the 2004 sleeper hit Nightwatch that was one of the most expensive Russian films ever produced with a budget of over 4 million dollars. In order to fully understand Daywatch it is important to have seen Nightwatch as the action commences immediately with no introduction or overview.

Daywatch is a fantasy vampire film that revolves around main character Anton Khabensky. In the prequel we see Anton’s wife leave him for another man while carrying his son. An old lady deceives Anton into believing that the unborn child is not his and he agrees to allow her to cast a spell that will abort the child. The spell is interrupted and father and Yegor, his son, meet for the first time twelve years later. Upon finding out that his father tried to kill him before he was born he turns to the dark side and so, against his father. Daywatch begins with Anton still a Nightwatch operative and now with an apprentice and love interest, Svetlana Poroshina. Unluckily for Anton if Svetlana and Yegor were ever to meet there would be a battle between the powers of light and dark that would more than likely result in the end of the world. Yikes.

Ordinarily, I like a good vampire film and I was looking forward to Nightwatch but I must admit it left me cold. Unfortunately Daywatch falls into all of the same traps. There are moments of music-video style direction and periods where it all feels a touch amateur. There is a big empty hole where character development should be and any hint of a coherent and logical storyline is sacrificed for special effects and set pieces. While some of the effects are poor (the speedy car driving is Benny Hill-esque), admittedly some are impressive and ambitious.

While Daywatch is heavily flawed there are enough fresh ideas and invention to carry it. Director Bekmambetov obviously enjoys filling his scenes with lush, rich colours and this gives the film a kind of artistic quality. Some of the fighting, while predictably ludicrous, is also quite balletic and sophisticated. It is just a shame that a little more emphasis was not placed on the plot and the examination of the main characters. Relating to the characters is simply an impossibility. A little quality control and the trimming of the 2 hour-plus running time would have been beneficial.

Ultimately this vampire film is a little toothless but there is enough invention here to suggest that director Bekmambetov might be worth keeping an eye on.