Day Watch
Encyclopedia
Day Watch is a 2006 Russian
Cinema of Russia
The cinema of Russia began in the Russian Empire, widely developed under the Soviet and in the years following the fall of the Soviet system, the Russian film industry would remain internationally recognised...

 dark fantasy
Dark fantasy
Dark fantasy is a term used to describe a fantasy story with a pronounced horror element.-Overview:A strict definition for dark fantasy is difficult to pin down. Gertrude Barrows Bennett has been called "the woman who invented dark fantasy". Both Charles L...

 action film
Action film
Action film is a film genre where one or more heroes is thrust into a series of challenges that require physical feats, extended fights and frenetic chases...

 marketed as "the first film of the year", opened in theatres across Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

 on January 1, 2006, the U.S. on June 1, 2007 and the UK on October 5, 2007. It is a sequel
Sequel
A sequel is a narrative, documental, or other work of literature, film, theatre, or music that continues the story of or expands upon issues presented in some previous work...

 to the 2004 film
2004 in film
The year 2004 in film involved some significant events. Major releases of sequels took place. It included blockbuster films like Shrek 2, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, The Passion of the Christ, Meet the Fockers, Blade: Trinity, Spider-Man 2, Alien vs. Predator, Kill Bill Vol...

 Night Watch
Night Watch (2004 film)
Night Watch is a 2004 Russian supernatural thriller film directed by Timur Bekmambetov. It is loosely based on the novel The Night Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko, and is the first part of a trilogy, followed by Day Watch and ending supposedly with Twilight Watch .-Plot:In the prologue, which...

, featuring the same cast. It is based on the second and the third part of Sergey Lukyanenko
Sergey Lukyanenko
Sergei Vasilievich Lukyanenko is a science fiction and fantasy author, writing in Russian, and is arguably the most popular contemporary Russian sci-fi writer...

's novel The Night Watch rather than its follow-up novel Day Watch
Day Watch (novel)
Day Watch is a fantasy novel by Russian authors Sergey Lukyanenko and Vladimir Vasilyev. The second book in the tetralogy of Watches, it is preceded by Night Watch and followed by Twilight Watch and Last Watch...

. The film's budget was USD
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....

$4.2 million. Fox Searchlight paid $2 million to acquire the worldwide distribution rights (excluding Russia and the Baltic states
Baltic states
The term Baltic states refers to the Baltic territories which gained independence from the Russian Empire in the wake of World War I: primarily the contiguous trio of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania ; Finland also fell within the scope of the term after initially gaining independence in the 1920s.The...

) of this film. This film grossed $31.9 million at the Russian box office alone.

Plot

It is New Year's Day
New Year's Day
New Year's Day is observed on January 1, the first day of the year on the modern Gregorian calendar as well as the Julian calendar used in ancient Rome...

 of 2006, more than one year after the events of Night Watch
Night Watch (2004 film)
Night Watch is a 2004 Russian supernatural thriller film directed by Timur Bekmambetov. It is loosely based on the novel The Night Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko, and is the first part of a trilogy, followed by Day Watch and ending supposedly with Twilight Watch .-Plot:In the prologue, which...

. Anton Gorodetsky, the protagonist
Protagonist
A protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...

 of the first film, finds himself in the middle of an approaching conflict between the Light and Dark Others
Others (Night Watch)
The Others are a fictional group of people with supernatural abilities in Sergey Lukyanenko's Watches novel tetralogy...

, who are still bound with an uneasy truce. Anton is still a Night Watch operative, now working with his trainee and romantic interest, Svetlana. 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 violates the treaty, leaving the Night Watch unable to sentence Yegor.

To redeem for his previous mistake, an attempt to use a witch's service to kill the unborn Yegor (shown in the beginning of the first film), Anton seeks the legendary Chalk of Fate, a magical chalk
Chalk
Chalk is a soft, white, porous sedimentary rock, a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite. Calcite is calcium carbonate or CaCO3. It forms under reasonably deep marine conditions from the gradual accumulation of minute calcite plates shed from micro-organisms called coccolithophores....

 that could rewrite history
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...

, which was once Tamerlane
Timur
Timur , historically known as Tamerlane in English , was a 14th-century conqueror of West, South and Central Asia, and the founder of the Timurid dynasty in Central Asia, and great-great-grandfather of Babur, the founder of the Mughal Dynasty, which survived as the Mughal Empire in India until...

's property and one of the main reasons for his numerous military successes.

Meanwhile, Zavulon, the leader of the Dark Others and their Day Watch, is waiting for Yegor's birthday. At the birthday, Yegor would become a Great Other and acquire the power that would allow the Dark Others to break the treaty (which is only supported because the Others fear that the two sides will destroy each other). Zavulon's gratitude to Anton for covering Yegor's violations of the treaty doesn't stop him and the Day Watch from attempting to frame Anton for murder and bring him in front of the Inquisition. They succeed, despite the efforts made by Geser, the head of the Night Watch, to protect Anton from the Dark Others by putting him in Olga's body. While in her body, Svetlana confesses that she loves Anton to the person she thinks is Olga, which pushes their relationship forward. This happens despite Svetlana's initial anger at Anton for not telling her that he was in Olga's body.

Anton obtains the Chalk of Fate from its hiding place in a Central Asian cafe
Café
A café , also spelled cafe, in most countries refers to an establishment which focuses on serving coffee, like an American coffeehouse. In the United States, it may refer to an informal restaurant, offering a range of hot meals and made-to-order sandwiches...

 in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

 and uses it to summon Yegor. They initially get on well, but Yegor is resentful when Anton refuses his request to patch things up with Yegor's mother. Anton puts his large coat on Yegor, who seems to be cold, and leaves to order food. At this time, Svetlana rings Anton's mobile, which he left in the pocket of the coat, and Yegor, angry at her intrusion into his relationship with his absentee father, yells at her, "He has a family. Don't call again." He smashes the phone and leaves with the chalk, which he takes to Zavulon. Zavulon cannot use or even touch the Chalk, because doing so would be a direct violation of the treaty, so he has Yegor give it to his minion/lover Alisia to do with as she wishes, although it is implied that Zavulon knows what she will do with it.

Yegor's birthday party begins soon after that; the guests are Dark Others (some of them are Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

n pop stars), although Anton makes his way to the party as Yegor's father to expose the real perpetrator of the murder he has been charged with - his vampire neighbor, Kostya's father. He is unable, however, to avert a disaster: as Svetlana rushes to the party to find Anton, Yegor confronts her. She tries to avoid a conflict but Yegor repeatedly challenges her and expresses resentment at her relationship with his father; Svetlana accidentally strikes Yegor and spills a drop of his blood, which Zavulon interprets as a violation of the Treaty and thus uses as a pretense to declare all-out war on the Light Others.

Yegor, now a Great Other, unleashes an apocalypse upon Moscow, killing most of the guests and blinding Svetlana. The city is nearly destroyed, starting with the Ostankino Tower
Ostankino Tower
Ostankino Tower is a free-standing television and radio tower in Moscow, Russia. Standing tall, Ostankino was designed by Nikolai Nikitin. It is a member of the World Federation of Great Towers, currently the tallest in Europe and 4th tallest in the world. The tower was the first free-standing...

; a fierce battle between the Light and Dark Others follows, with few survivors on either side. In the midst of the chaos, Anton, who survives, finds Alisia who is trying to revive her dead lover, Kostya, but without success. She cannot revive him because her actions did not cause his death. The scene implies the user of the Chalk can only change decisions that he or she made, not anyone else's. Anton convinces Alisia to give him the Chalk so that he can prevent the destruction of Moscow and the deaths of scores of Others, but is almost immediately caught by a panicked Svetlana and an enraged Yegor. The two Great Others fight for Anton, but nearly kill him in the process. Saved at the last minute by Geser, Anton runs through the ruins of Moscow to the house where he, fourteen years ago, made his visit to the witch — the visit that caused the entire sequence of events, starting Anton's own initiation into the Night Watch. Anton writes NO (нет; pronounced nyet) on a wall in this house. Moscow reverts to its normal, undemolished state and the film returns to 1992 and the first scene of Night Watch.

In the epilogue, as a result of the Chalk's influence, Anton rethinks his deal with the witch, and therefore never inadvertently agrees to harm his wife's unborn child, who would have been Yegor. He walks out of the house and into the street, where he meets Svetlana. Zavulon and Geser watch them from a park bench, eager to see if Anton will recognize Svetlana, despite now having never met her because of the rewriting of history. Geser's prediction turns out to be accurate; despite not knowing how or why, Anton recognizes Svetlana and they walk off together, implicitly striking up a less harried relationship than the one they have/had in the first film.

Cast

  • Konstantin Khabensky
    Konstantin Khabensky
    Konstantin Khabensky is a Russian actor best known in the West for starring in the films Night Watch and Day Watch as the lead character Anton Gorodetsky....

     as Anton
  • Aleksei Chadov as Kostya
  • Gosha Kutsenko
    Gosha Kutsenko
    Yuriy Georgiyevich Kutsenko , better known as Gosha Kutsenko is a Russian actor, producer, singer, poet, and screenwriter. In 2008 he joined the United Russia party. Kutsenko has appeared in high profile films such as Mama Don't Cry, Antikiller, Night Watch, and Echelon...

     as Ignat
  • Zhanna Friske
    Zhanna Friske
    Jeanna Vladimirovna Friske , better known under her stage name Zhanna Friske, is a Russian film actress, singer, and socialite.-Career:...

     as Alisa
  • Mariya Poroshina as Svetlana
  • Vladimir Menshov
    Vladimir Menshov
    Vladimir Valentinovich Menshov is a Soviet and Russian actor and film director. He is noted for depicting the Russian everyman and working class life in his films. Like many other Russian filmmakers, he studied acting and directing at the state film school VGIK, the world's oldest educational...

     as Gesser
  • Galina Tyunina as Olga
  • Viktor Verzhbitsky
    Viktor Verzhbitsky
    Viktor Verzhbitsky, born 21 September 1959, in Tashkent, Soviet Union . Viktor is well known for playing the role of Zavulon in the 2004 film Night Watch and it's 2006 sequel Day Watch. He has been relatively active as an actor on both the small screen and large screen since 1994 when he starred in...

     as Zavulon
  • Dmitriy Martynov
    Dmitriy Martynov
    Dmitriy Martynov is a Russian teen actor. His breakthrough came in Night Watch, where he starred as Yegor.-Films:*Night Watch as Yegor...

     as Yegor
  • Valeri Zolotukhin
    Valeri Zolotukhin
    Valeri Sergeevich Zolotukhin is a Soviet/Russian theatrical and cinema actor, People's Artist of Russia.Best known as Bumbarash from the 1971 film with the same name.Featured in Night Watch and Day Watch .-Filmography:...

     as Kostya's father
  • Nurzhuman Ikhtymbayev as Zoar
  • Aleksei Maklakov
    Aleksei Maklakov
    Aleksei Konstantinovich Maklakov is a Russian actor and singer. Well known in Russia for his current starring role as Praporshchik Shmatko on the REN TV series Soldiers.- Filmography :-External links:...

     as Semyon
  • Aleksandr Samojlenko as Bear
  • Irina Yakovleva as Galina Rogova
  • Yegor Dronov as Tolik

Production

Roughly 20 visual effects
Visual effects
Visual effects are the various processes by which imagery is created and/or manipulated outside the context of a live action shoot. Visual effects involve the integration of live-action footage and generated imagery to create environments which look realistic, but would be dangerous, costly, or...

 vendors were utilized for the 800 shots using visual effects, compared to Night Watchs 400 effects; the main studio was the visual effects supervisor
Visual effects supervisor
In the context of film and television production, a visual effects supervisor is responsible for achieving the creative aims of the director and/or producers through the use of visual effects...

 Vladimir Leschinski's Dr. Picture Studios. It took about a year to complete the visual effects.

Response

According to Channel One Russia
Channel One (Russia)
Channel One is the first television channel to broadcast in the Soviet Union. The channel was renamed Ostankino Channel 1 in 1991, after the Soviet Union broke up and the Russian SFSR became the Russian Federation. According to a recent government publication, the Russian government controls 51%...

 (producer of film), by January 4, 2006 about two million people in Russia and CIS
Commonwealth of Independent States
The Commonwealth of Independent States is a regional organization whose participating countries are former Soviet Republics, formed during the breakup of the Soviet Union....

 had already watched the movie. The release of the film across Russia was timed for the long holiday period (from January 1 through January 9) and created demand among the ticket-buying public unprecedented in the post-Soviet
Post-Soviet states
The post-Soviet states, also commonly known as the Former Soviet Union or former Soviet republics, are the 15 independent states that split off from the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in its dissolution in December 1991...

 period. Gemini Film states that preliminary assessment for Day Watch box office
Box office
A box office is a place where tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through an unblocked hole through a wall or window, or at a wicket....

by June 25, 2006 is $31,965,087.

Russian vs. North American releases

One of the key differences between the North American release and the Russian original is that while they both open with a particular sequence, the North American version is truncated.
  • Anton and Anatoly play basketball in the computer room.
  • Alisa visits Galina Rogova's little daughter to find out if she saw Gorodetsky.
  • Anton calls his ex-wife (Yegor's mother) to find out where Yegor is.
  • In the subway, Anton escapes from the pursuing Dark Others by jumping into a running train. The pursuers kill a night guard who tries to stop them.
  • At the party Anton grabs a microphone from a singer and starts singing Communist songs.
  • Yegor is trying to suck out life's force of Svetlana through the needle he put into her at the beginning.


In addition, there are many trims of existing scenes and excised lines. Also, there are some cuts for violence, e.g. Yegor pouring a pot of hot sausages over a vendor and Anton's brutal beating by the security guard.

The Unrated DVD is the same as the Russian release of the DVD.
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