Dnevnoy dozor 2006

Peter Debruge, Miami Herald: It delivers more cutting-edge eye candy but defies any attempt at understanding. Read more

Jeff Shannon, Seattle Times: [Director] Bekmambetov is a reckless and juvenile storyteller with a regrettable knack for empty spectacle. Read more

Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune: One hell of a movie. Read more

Tasha Robinson, AV Club: The series' theme might be that the center cannot hold, but the idea gets played out too literally, as Day Watch can barely keep an idea on the screen for a few minutes before whipping off in a new direction. Read more

Bill Muller, Arizona Republic: Every bit as puzzling as its predecessor, but it's shot in such a bold, crazy way that you have to admire its pure audacity. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: Were I to tell you the summer's most awesome blockbuster action sequel involved a war over a piece of chalk, you'd laugh. But it's true. Read more

Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader: Narrative incoherence continues to reign supreme. Read more

Bruce Westbrook, Houston Chronicle: A noisy, incoherent, droning spectacle. Read more

Gregory Kirschling, Entertainment Weekly: If you don't take it seriously -- i.e., if you're able to laugh at the notion of a piece of chalk that undoes time -- the sequel is a minor wackjob head trip. Read more

Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press: To the credit of [director] Timur Bekmambetov, it is possible to dive into the second chapter of the ambitious, visually dazzling Russian fantasy trilogy that began with 2004's Night Watch without feeling completely adrift. Read more

Ella Taylor, L.A. Weekly: An oddly sweet-tempered mix of hyperbole, understatement and profoundly Slavic philosophizing about guilt, freedom and responsibility. Read more

John Anderson, Newsday: With what seems to be a freer hand and a bigger budget, Bekmambetov returns with an even slicker, faster-paced and funnier take on the black magical sub-castes born in the novels of Sergei Lukyanenko and Vladimir Vasiliev. Read more

Lisa Rose, Newark Star-Ledger: It's a playful, surrealistic antidote to standard genre entertainment. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: Day Watch could have been shorter and simpler, but the same might be said for any of the current Hollywood blockbusters -- none of which offer as many surprises. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: There are many stunning special effects, including a car chase up the side of a building, as well as the sort of wild animated subtitles that turned up in Night Watch. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: Maybe they didn't invent the vampire movie. But thanks to Night Watch and now Day Watch, the Russians certainly have the last word in it. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: Day Watch deploys head-spinning cinematography and cool special effects. It's a trippy affair, even if it's just about impossible to track. Read more

Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle: Bekmambetov and his crafty cinematographer Sergei Trofimov have so many different tricks that you'll be smiling at the scenes that make no sense. Read more

Bill Stamets, Chicago Sun-Times: At 2 hours and 20 minutes, this zippy follow-up to Night Watch delivers a killer pace, blasts of heavy-metal, vexed characters, and gory allegory wherein occult terrorists suck blood, cast spells and escape to a spooky zone known as the Gloom. Read more

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: It's exhausting just trying to imagine what 46-year-old director Timur Bekmambetov would do with Hollywood money. Yet, as puffed up as it is, Day Watch is redeemed by its sardonic, Slavic take on the end of the world. Read more

Malene Arpe, Toronto Star: In comparison [to Night Watch], Day Watch is straightforward, explaining what's gone before while telling a fantastical story and having fun doing it. Read more

Nigel Floyd, Time Out: Madly over-plotted, with overlapping time frames and puzzling sub-plots, it makes no concessions to neophytes. Read more

Melissa Anderson, Time Out: This sequel reprises the original's conceit that if you just throw a lot of cool fantasy ballyhoo together, who cares if coherence becomes collateral damage? [This] is what you'd imagine it's like being stuck inside the head of a geeky 12-year-old boy. Read more

Leslie Felperin, Variety: Although more flashily assembled, pic's relentless onslaught charms less over a running time almost 25 minutes longer. Read more

Nathan Lee, Village Voice: The worst thing Bekmambetov has picked up from his American models is the tendency of megasequels to aggrandize material grown enervated, to compensate for thinness by spreading out. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: Day Watch may not suit everyone, but it opens a big can of Russian whoop-de-whoop on anyone willing to take it. Read more