Given how Night Watch ended with the central character losing his son after he allied himself with the forces of darkness, I had half expected to sit through a sequel in the vein of a supernatural Kramer vs Kramer – but I needn’t have worried. Day Watch is by turns brilliant and completely bonkers. Which is what you would expect of a film that concerns itself with an ancient mystical artifact known as the Chalk of Fate. As for the plot, The Light Others continue to monitor the Dark Others as the fragile truce between the two sides teeters on the bring. Again, the action centres around Konstantin Khabensky as Anton, who is plagued by the loss of his son Yegor, and finds himself slap bang in the middle of the oncoming war. As if that wasn’t bad enough, he’s being asked to trace a Great Dark Other who is causing chaos, attacking humans, and eluding those trying to identify him. Couple that with the fact he has to train a Great Light Other who could restore the balance, and you can understand why he’s having a particularly hard time. But the problems really start when Anton is falsely accused and framed for the murder of one of the Dark Others – an action which could end the fragile truce and plunge both sides into war. As Anton tries to extricate himself from the conspiracy against him, he finds himself drawn deeper into the quest to find the Chalk of Fate (a mythical piece of white chalk which holds the key to the world).

It’s fair to say Day Watch isn’t in the same league as Night Watch – but director Timur Bekmambetov actually sets it apart from its predecessor. Still in place are the eye popping visuals, but this time it’s been thrown together with a degree of pure insanity: there are body swapping segments, and in one of the more memorably nuts instances, a love scene involving two women in a shower somehow ends up in a waterfall. And to Bekmambetov’s credit, all of this is in perfect keeping with the ethos of the universe. More stunning visuals bring on the apocalypse in an astonishing feast for the eyes, yet the film ultimately falls short in its denouement, and any true fan of fantasy or sci-fi can see how the end will resolve itself within the first five minutes. Disappointingly, this is a deus ex machina device that has become increasingly more commonplace within the genre, as writers appear to paint themselves into a corner. However – and this is the real clincher – the end works and leaves all of us wondering where the next film in the series will go (if indeed there is one). Suspend your disblief and you will be rewarded.

One special mention must also go to the creative subtitles: frequently changing colours and interacting with the on-screen action (they even vibrate when a door is knocked), they truly are a creative stroke of genius.—Darren Bevan