Dnevnoy dozor (2006)

Director:

Timur Bekmambetov

Writers:

Timur Bekmambetov (writer)
Sergei Lukyanenko (novel)

Release Date:

1 January 2006 (Belarus)

Genre:

Action | Fantasy | Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

First film of the year

Plot:

A man (Khabensky) who serves in the war between the forces of Light and Dark comes into possession of a device that can restore life to Moscow, which was nearly destroyed by an apocalyptic event.

Plot Keywords:

Framed | Murder | Death | Blood | Chalk

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Konstantin Khabenskiy	...	Anton
Mariya Poroshina	...	Svetlana
Vladimir Menshov	...	Geser
Galina Tyunina	...	Olga
Viktor Verzhbitskiy	...	Zavulon
Zhanna Friske	...	Alisa
Dmitriy Martynov	...	Yegor (as Dima Martynov)
Valeriy Zolotukhin	...	Kostya's Father
Aleksey Chadov	...	Kostya
Nurzhuman Ikhtymbayev	...	Zoar
Aleksey Maklakov	...	Semyon
Aleksandr Samoylenko	...	Bear (Medved)
Yuriy Kutsenko	...	Ignat (as Gosha Kutsenko)
Irina Yakovleva	...	Galina Rogova
Georgiy Dronov	...	Tolik (as Yegor Dronov)

Also Known As:

Day Watch (Australia) (video title) (International: English title) (UK) (literal English title)
Night Watch 2 (International: English title) (USA) (TV title)
Дневной дозор (Russia)
Night Patrol 2 (Europe: English title)
Guardianes del día (Argentina) (DVD title) (Mexico) (Peru) (Spain) [es]
Day Watch (Finland) [fi]
Day Watch (Japan: English title) [en]
Dnevna straza (Serbia) [sr]
Gündüz nöbeti (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
Guardiões do Dia (Brazil) (festival title) [pt]
I guardiani del giorno (Italy) [it]
Los guardianes de la noche 2 (Spain) [es]
Oi fylakes tis meras (Greece) [el]
Wächter des Tages (Germany) [de]

Runtime:

132 min | USA:146 min (unrated version) | Spain:139 min (DVD edition) | Argentina:146 min

Country:

Russia

Language:

Russian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Australia:MA | Ireland:15A | UK:15 | Singapore:NC-16 | New Zealand:R16 | South Korea:15 | Germany:16 | Peru:18 | Finland:K-15 | Argentina:16 | Netherlands:16 | Spain:13 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Almaty, Kazakhstan

Company:

Bazelevs Production

Trivia:

Surpassed 9 rota (2005) in January 2006 to become the highest-grossing movie in post-communist Russia.

Goofs:

Factual errors: A Dark Other from Samarqand, Uzbekistan, is calling Zavulon by a mobile phone. He dials the number 8-910. However, as Uzbekistan is another country, he should have dialed +7910.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Narrator: Why does the wind blow? It wipes the tracks where we have passed. So that no one can tell, whether we still exist.

Movie Connections:

References 9 rota (2005)

I need to get myself one of those yo-yos...

I must admit that before this film I was never a real fan of the Watcher series. A Russian friend of mine advised me to watch Nochnoy Dozor. I was impressed, but hardly blown away. So I went into this film expecting another worthless sequel Hollywood seems to be churning out by the dozen. But this is not Hollywood, and this is not another worthless sequel. In fact, this is surprisingly amazing. Every aspect of the original have been amplified up ten times until you can almost feel the room reverberating. We're spoilt with so much cinematic impact right from the start. The CGI landscapes are breathtaking and the epic battles are just as panoramic as something out of a LoTR film.

The cast is kept the same as the original, all still pitch-perfect in their roles. I can't imagine anyone other than Khabensky playing our helplessly flawed hero. The premise might seem overused (Light versus Dark) but the background plot is actually very unique. I love how the leaders can joke around with each other when taking time off being sworn mortal enemies. And you can tell that the film is a book adaptation by how deep the story goes. Very few aspects are covered completely, leaving you to wonder what motives have some of the characters really got, and what was decidedly cut out of the film version. The soundtrack is one of the most erratic ones I've ever heard but works perfectly for this film. One scene a romantic love score, the next some adrenaline pumping heavy metal, immediately followed by a chirpy joke song. I honestly can't say much about the script since I don't understand Russian, but I feel that there are some in-jokes that would be hilarious if only I understood them. And that's the surprising thing about the film - despite all of its mind-blowing action, there is still time for the writer to fit in some matured dry humour!

I've now been thoroughly converted into a Watcher fan. The first thing I'll do is hunt down some English copies of the books. It feels to me as if the first film is just an introduction to these characters and leads up to the second film where the action heats up. A little surprised by the conclusive ending but can't wait to see what they'll do with it in the next film!