Day Watch

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

It's a high-energy blast.

Washington Post Ann Hornaday

Like its predecessor, the movie is a joyous celebration of extravagant pulp and post-Soviet kitsch, joyously trafficking in gore, loud cars, ladies' stilettos and excess for its own sake.

San Francisco Chronicle Peter Hartlaub

While the sequel to "Night Watch" is an imperfect film, it's always interesting.

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

Anyone looking for sleek futuristic action and production design should keep walking.

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

Though Day Watch seems less shocking and overwhelmingly strange than "Night Watch," it's another rocking mix of gritty thriller and glitzy sci-fi, once again in the vein of the director Bekmambetov's idols Quentin Tarantino and the Wachowski brothers.

Premiere Glenn Kenny

The crazy fantasy world of this saga is plenty compelling and quirky.

LA Weekly Ella Taylor

For all the vampires and blown-up cars, you'll see no sadism for the hell of it, only an oddly sweet-tempered mix of hyperbole, understatement and profoundly Slavic philosophizing about guilt, freedom and responsibility.

Entertainment Weekly Gregory Kirschling

The sequel is a minor wackjob head trip.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

Though overlong, 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."

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

Putting an entertainingly outlandish spin on "Matrix"-style action, Bekmambetov leans toward flamboyant special effects and operatic overacting.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

Ranks as one of the most elaborate, stunt- and effects-filled summer movies currently in the theatres. Unfortunately for its box-office prospects, it's also in Russian, which narrows its audience to action junkies with a foreign film bent.

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

Day Watch does dazzle and even at times amuse. But its imagination is limited. The backstory is shallow and pat. Its characters are mostly one-note. And everything goes on much too long at 133 minutes.

Village Voice Nathan Lee

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.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Bill White

The story is pure gobbledygook.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

Bekmambetov introduces too many elements, losing interest in them or using them inadequately.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

Day Watch falls prey to the curse of most sequels in which "more" is often a thin concept stretched beyond its limits and misconstrued to mean "bigger and better."

The New York Times Jeannette Catsoulis

Unfolding in a decrepit, present-day Moscow, Day Watch dazzles and confuses with equal determination.

Variety Leslie Felperin

Bursting with incident and FX, Day Watch will delight fans of its predecessor, "Night Watch," but further annoy those antipathetic to the Russkie-made supernatural franchise.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Tasha Robinson

Like the dream it so closely resembles, it's fairly distracting while it's going on, but it fades into forgettable nonsense by the light of day.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

I wasn't exactly engaged, but this time boredom never took over.

Miami Herald Peter Debruge

Like Russia's answer to "The Matrix" and "Lord of the Ring"s trilogies, Day Watch offers the second chapter in an epic battle between the forces of Light and Dark, the result of which is a gaping gray area where nothing much makes sense.