Day Watch

As far as sequels to Russian sci-fi-vampire movies go, this one is pretty good. But it doesn't have much competish. There are Light and Dark people, and a backstory starting with "the Chalk" that was found in olden-days Iran. Fast forward to modern Russia, with "Matrix"-esque special effects and a devolving truce between warring factions of people with special powers of some sort and a search for "the Chalk."

A few notable sequences. One man puts red sticks in another's ears and then slams his face into the snow. The man then scoops up the face imprint, places it over his face, and wipes away the snow to reveal he has changed his face to match the imprint. Not sure how that happened. Perhaps most memorable though is a scene reminiscent of "The Transporter 2" where a woman drives her car off of a building, but somehow turns it mid-air so it lands on the side of another building across the street, where she continues driving it until she's over a window, she pops the clutch or something, and then the car falls through the window, landing in a room.

But the plot mostly escapes me. For one thing, it seems an obvious point, but it's worth making: "Day Watch" is not as dark as "Night Watch." The darkness was part of what I liked. Also, "Night Watch" had subtitles in blood, an innovation lost in the sequel, unless I configured it wrong on my DVD player. Once I ascertained these differences, I largely lost interest and did not pay much attention. If "Dusk Watch" ever comes out, I'm not sure I'll bother to see it. For a series that appeared from the trailers for "Night Watch" to be as epic as "The Matrix," I'm afraid this trilogy thus far has disappointed me. Maybe it's good as far as Russian films go, but that alone doesn't do it for me.