Occasionally we Westerners have a rare opportunity to see a film that come from Russia, a country that isn’t at the top of the list when you think cinema, but in 2004, a movie was released that took the world by storm and made all of us see that maybe we were mistaken in our beliefs on Russian film. Timur Bekmambetov’s Night Watch, based on the book of the same name by Sergei Lukyanenko, was without a doubt one of the most visually impressive movies to come along in quite some time, and what any fan has been waiting for is the sequel.

Day Watch is just what we’ve been anticipating, and the story of light and dark forces once again takes hold in Moscow. Beginning on New Year’s Eve of 2006, one year after the events from the first film, Anton Gorodetsky (Konstantin Khabensky) is training Svetlana Nazarova (Mariya Poroshina), the newest member of the Night Watch when a report comes in of an attack by a vampire. Svetlana pursues the attacker before being stopped by Anton who happens to know exactly who it is; his son Yegor (Dmitry Martynov) and Anton will do whatever is necessary to protect him.

Someimte later, a member of the Day Watch is found murdered and the evidence points to Anton as the culprit. Alisia Donnikova (Zhanna Friske) is determined to find the proof she needs and the hierarchy of the Watch have already requested that Anton be turned over to them. Instead, the decision is made to swap Antons mind with that of Olga (Galina Tyunina), at least until they can get the answers necessary to clear his name, but the Day Watch is already onto the scheme. There is a bigger threat however, and should Svetlana and Yegor meet, the two powerful wizards may tear the world itself apart, and while trying to keep this from happening, Anton also begins looking for the mythical Chalk of Fate, something that may help him to clear his name.

If you’ve never seen Night Watch, I definitely have to recommend that you take the opportunity to do so before trying to view Day Watch as many of the ideas and concepts found here simply won’t make much sense. Day Watch isn’t trying to fill in the details of what has happened in the previous film and instead is content to simply begin without sharing the details for the unanimated on what both the Day and Night Watch are as well as the powers and abilities of the characters in both organizations.

Day Watch is a visual feast that is just as impressive as the original film. Many have compared the first movie to Harry Potter, especially with the existence of spell casters within the Watch world, and The Matrix, but Bekmambetov manages to accomplish in this follow-up film what the Wachowski Brothers could not, and that is give fans of Night Watch a new batch of visual effects in Day Watch as opposed to simply hitting us again with the same tricks over and over again, something that The Matrix Reloaded and Revolutions are quite guilty of.

Day Watch features some outstanding direction by Bekmambetov, and it’s very easy to see why it is that Hollywood has taken an interest in his style. Aside from hitting you with outstanding special effects, I’m impressed by his use of plenty of cut back and forth be3tween characters or just simple, subtle visuals that really help to breathe life into the movie. Bekmambetov can take mundane things and make them interesting, capturing your attention and drawing you into the film much further. His style is like that of Tarantino and times or even Darren Aaronofsky, and it will be interesting to see what he does with his first big budget, Hollywood picture which should be out next year.

But it isn’t just stylish camera work or lavish special effects that make Day Watch work, but the mythology of the film as well as Bekmambetov’s use of humor at times. Anton switching bodies with Olga becomes quite a hilarious situation, especially after “Olga” ends up going to stay with Svetlana, and since the two do have feeling for one another, there is a rather interesting pseudo-lesbian sequence that become both visually stunning and quite funny. The script itself is well written, though there are some issues that I had towards the end as Anton seems to know who the real killer is, and unless I missed it, there didn’t seem to be clues to point to the real culprit. The film also mixes in some nice secondary storylines with characters such as Alisia and Kostya, Anton’s vampire neighbor who is trying to find a cure for his “disease” as well as Alisia and Zavulon. But again, much of this will make little sense to those who are unfamiliar with Night Watch, and watching both films together might not be a bad idea, and in fact, is almost a requirement.

Day Watch is also presented uncut, and those who say the film in its limited theatrical release may have found that there were a few cuts in the movie, but not here. It also does have the option to be watched as an English dub or in its original Russian language, but this is one of those films that makes me wonder why a high definition BluRay version wasn’t made available. Both Day Watch and Night Watch are the types of movies that would be outstanding additions to anyone’s high definition library and hopefully the coming months might finally see these two outstanding pieces of cinema make the leap to high definition.

You will also find that the DVD includes commentary by Timur Bekmambetov, and it is in English, so those of you how have issues with reading subtitles, there’s no need to worry. There is also a making of as well as the English theatrical trailer, a number of Russian theatrical trailers and Russian television spots for the film.

With the way Day Watch ends, I have to wonder just how exactly Bekmambetov will create the third installment in the Watch series, but I’m sure this has already been thought out well in advance. If you loved Night Watch, Day Watch expands that story quite a bit and is still the kick in the gut that the first movie was. If however you’re still not hip to what all of the buzz is, Day Watch will be the film that has you rethinking Russian filmmaking as being a little less than what Hollywood can do. Bekmambetov pulls off every possible trick, adds in a few new ones, and is the best Russian import the world has seen since vodka.