Day Watch

The epic struggle between the forces of light and dark introduced in the grunge-noir fantasy "Night Watch" gets a little darker in the second film of the series based on the horror/sci-fi trilogy by Sergei Lukyanenko. The wobbly truce policed by supernatural cops has only gotten worse, and the vampires of the dark side are plotting to push the good guys (who, in this world, are good only by contrast) into breaking the treaty. The actual details are foggy and the politics obscure, but it's a fabulously imagined urban underworld in a depressed modern Moscow and a vibrant subculture of sorcerers, shape-shifters, seers and vampires who coexist with the humans (and, at times, prey upon them). Timur Bekmambetov, who helmed both films in the series so far, is reportedly at work on the final film, though the ending doesn't give much indication where the story is heading. The conflicts seem pretty wrapped up by the end of this one. Features both the original Russian version (with creative subtitles that have the presence of an incantation taking physical form) and an English dubbed version, plus the featurette "The Making of Day Watch."