| Overall Grade: |
A |
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| Story: |
B+ |
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| Acting: |
A |
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| Direction: |
A |
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| Visuals: |
A |
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Dark, Silly, Unique
by Monica (movies profile)
Nov 4, 2007
6
of
6 people found this review helpful
So Night Watch was an interesting and unusually done movie. Very fringe, and not many people have heard of it. Day Watch is out now and is its sequel. I've been anticipating this as much as any other sequel this summer.
I am happy to report Day Watch is on par with the first movie on acting, direction, cinematography, creativity, quirkiness and originality.
Things to highlight:
- Just a crazy, over-the-top, not your standard movie. This director and his style are unique. You haven't and are unlikely to see anything like this. I have to believe it is not suited for the standard audience. You have to really be able to deal with some strange things. I like them, but consider yourself warned.
- The cinematography and style including costuming of this movie is similar to the first and just great. An absolute unique blend of what??? So hard to describe... you just have to see it.
- Be prepared for more quirkiness and humor than the first movie. This is a good thing. The first movie was very dark and very heavy. The second could hardly be called light but it had several cute moments and is definitely less dark than Night Watch was.
- For the faint of heart, the movie actually contains one scene which is so completely over-the-top silly you have to cover your eyes.
- Acting was good. You could tell that even being mostly in Russian. The woman playing Olga has to get serious kudos for pulling off being Anton for an extended portion of the movie. If I could nominate her for an award I would.
- The story is just as convoluted as the first and Anton gets trapped in more diabolical plotting, but it somehow doesn't quite jibe in the end. I had a hard time with the ending of Night Watch (not feel good) and I also had a hard time with the ending of Day Watch (feel good).
- Was the ending OK? I can't tell how I feel about it except a) it didn't leave much room for another movie (there is a third book in the series these movies are based on) and b) it was too nice really. For all the darkness we've gone through and the messiness of the first movie's ending, I would have expected something less "feel good". Was this a response to those critics who felt the ending of Night Watch was just way too heavy to make it successful?
I would have liked the movie to explore the theme of making mistakes and dealing with them a little more.
Overall, if you like quirky, weird, fringe, cutting edge movies about the battle of good vs. evil, don't miss this one.
If you haven't seen the first movie, they do give you a quick synopsis at the beginning, but really do see the first movie first. You just won't understand a lot of the dramatic tension otherwise.
If quirky and fringe aren't your thing, this may not work for you, and I'm pretty sure I'd take the "R" rating seriously and leave younger kids home for this one. |
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