Weekly DVD Pick - Day Watch

When one thinks of big budget science fiction Russia does not generally come to mind. You know what though, it should. Day Watch is the second movie in the trilogy of Night Watch, Day Watch and Twilight Watch. The first two were filmed in Russia while the third has been picked up by Fox and will be filmed in English. I don’t really want to get into whether this is good or bad right now but I want to focus on the fact that both Night Watch and Day Watch are excellent entries into the dark science fiction genre.

I would really suggest checking out Night Watch before Day Watch as the movies really are meant to be seen together much like as Lord of the Rings is one complete story. If you jump into Day Watch without having seen its predecessor you will be quite confused at times as you are expected to know what is already going on. The basic story is that back a long time ago evil was at war with good in a battle that would eventually destroy everything. In order to prevent this a truce was formed. The Night Watch or good police would monitor the evil forces and the Day Watch would police the good forces. We have jumped to the future where a prophecy is being fulfilled of a child being born who will break the truce and would lead one side to victory over the other. The main character, a member of the Night Watch is the father of child which the prophecy speaks of. What we get is an epic battle between good and evil with the father and child, now in his teens stuck in the middle.

While the special effects match anything that Hollywood puts out, the car driving along the side of the building just has to be seen to believed it is really the story that drives Day Watch. Day Watch is a complex character driven story that puts Hollywood summer blockbusters to shame. If you haven’t seen Night Watch or Day Watch yet I really suggest running out to the store and picking them both up.