Films/DVD Asylum

Posted by Pepe Le Loco (A) on June 17, 2007 at 05:22:10

In Reply to: RE: "Action-packed 'Day Watch' is a sci-fi sequel to watch" -- Question: posted by clarkjohnsen on June 08, 2007 at 08:46:48

Well...

I Missed Night Watch, but having just seen the sequel I don't count that as a particularly sore loss.

Day Watch was interesting as a cultural artifact certainly...

As a movie- ?

One hesitates to criticize out of respect for sitting ducks.

Which is not to say there aren't some genuinely good things between title and end credits. Production value and technique are a little spotty, but generally very high and cavalier for a non Hollywood hamburger, for whatever that may be worth. And certainly in so far as its attempted scope, and its passion for and attention to its own detail, the movie can't at all be knocked. In a way, what more can one ask of anything?
Performances also certainly far outclass the whole and demonstrate very professional care.

But the Day Watch's real strength is as a window into a kind of Russian pop, and as a historical document in an evolution that includes Amphibian Man, Planet of the Storms, To The Stars By Hard Ways, etc. Also as a window into what The Matrix and Harry Potter looks like to local industries outside of mainstream Hollywood- a kind of carnival house mirror image of our own popular toys. But the question is unavoidable however- are there really no jaw droppingly hot babes in all the Russias willing to work in the movies????

I suppose the audacity of the appearances of the twin Tarkovskys that dispassionately oversee the destiny of the universe, might in some way almost make up for the hit you take with the price of admission, depending on the going rate where you live. And when you think about it, in the middle of the muddle, there is a certain common taste shared between the Day Watch and the unfortunate penultimate act of Stalker, although you'd never think it, since the two movies are otherwise such utter polar opposites from soup to nuts.

But, all in all, don't feel obligated to rush right out.