Daybreakers

Riding the most recent wave of monster-dom, Daybreakers is yet another entry in the endless parade of vampire films to hit the market since the arrival of a little film called Twilight which I hear is somewhat popular. Breaking with recent trends however, Daybreakers is by far the best of the bunch; high concept and high reward.

The year is 2019. After a plague sweeps across the globe turning men, women and children into blood-thirsty, pale version of their former selves another, larger threat looms. The remaining humans, who now mostly exist only in vast blood farms that recall the fields of The Matrix, are drying out so to speak. Blood shortages are common place and with the direction of a vampire haematologist named Edward Dalton (Ethan Hawk) they desperately search for a blood substitute. But complications lead Dalton to question his loyalties after he meets a group of humans led by a former-vampire turned vigilante (Willem Dafoe) and with the future of mankind resting in the balance, time grows more and more precious.

The vampire world created by director brothers Michael and Peter Spierig is extensive and all encompassing. The attention to detail at every turn is the greatest reason to seek out Daybreakers even if script and some performances aren't quite up to the same standard. Take for example instances of how the vamps navigate during the daytime and what a double-double coffee now means. Many earmarks of vampire lore remain; death by sunlight, susceptibility to a steak in the heart, etc. But many details about the new world culture is left to viewer imagination which is a far better avenue to take then attempting to stuff the story with exposition and revelations.

Amidst a sea of flashy set pieces, the acting takes a backseat. Hawk is merely there, Dafoe is entertaining enough and scores most of the laughs and Sam Niell shows up as the shady CEO of the blood farm and is sufficiently sinister. The real standout is Claudia Karvan as one of the remaining humans who actually manages to bring down her languid looking co-stars with her emotion and charm. Daybreakers features a number of requisite action set-pieces and do the job admirably enough but it is the story that is the real reason to see this film.

If there is still blood to be drained from this waning horror genre I hope it is not fast-tracked to take advantage of the current craze. If we are to have more vampire flicks of this calibre then I would rather experience them while not being constantly swamped. Regardless of where these fright flicks tread in the future we are lucky to have Daybreakers, as an entertaining and thought-provoking film like this is always welcome amidst a sea of remakes, reboots and rehashes that have become a Hollywood staple.

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Some films contain better ideas for another film. That is exactly what we have here in Daybreakers. In the future, we are all vampires. Only this isn't I am Legend. We walk, talk and do as we used to do. The major difference being that we must obviously drink blood and avoid the sun. Thus any and all humans are captured and farmed for blood until the day they die. We have found a way to do these things and maintain the semblance of our day-to-day. This is the film I so wanted to see. A function society of vampires living in a world built for humanity. Sadly, we don't get enough of it.

What's left of humanity survives by day and dodges at night. Hematologist Edward Dalton (Ethan Hawke…wow its' been a while) is sympathetic to their cause because he does in fact still possess his humanity. His boss (Sam Neil) simply wants capital which should have far less importance in a world where blood is the only real necessity. Dalton's goal is to find either a cure for the disease (never explained) or a substitute to replace human blood which is dwindling fast. If the powers that be can't find a solution we will all change into a creature resembles a mutant bat and Mickey Rourke's face from The Wrestler. Dalton stumbles upon a group of humans who have found a way to cure the disease. This method is explained so simplistically it's stupid to think another vampire or two wouldn't have stumbled upon it by accident too. Among this group is Audrey (Claudia Kraven) and Elvis (Willem Dafoe…here setting a precedent for cliché' sadly). Elvis has been cured thanks to his love of fast cars. Don't ask. I'll only groan.

Daybreakers is far from a bad film but it's certainly a stubborn and frustrating one. There is such a fantastic idea here that is tossed aside because we are supposed to identify more with the humans than we are expected to be fascinated by this vampire-urbanity. The action scenes are rather clunky as well and not at all thrilling. That's quite peculiar because some shots in the film look so stellar you'd think they are from a different budget. Characterization is also at a bare minimum. Dalton for example has a soldier brother who serves simply as someone who can move the plot along, he doesn't have to provide any real emotion. Neil also has a daughter (Isabel Lucas last seen as chick-bot in Transformers II) whose screen time and presence in the film is really an utter waste. I suppose it provides Neil some motivation later on in the film but again, this only serves the plot. It doesn't make the film any better which can be said about most of the scenes here.

A lot of folks…scratch that a lot of DUDES will like Daybreakers simply because it is not New Moon. The vampires actually bite things, are dangerous, act like they are vampires and not CW stars, and the blood flows freely (the last 10 minutes may be the goriest since Planet Terror). I didn't make this comparison as the two films only have the term vampire in common. Instead I saw a film that used a genius premise to set-up a rather boring, dull and far too conventional 2 hours. I wish there was more to elaborate on but truthfully any mediocre film will make you say this: I don't care to.

There is no shortage of on screen vampires these days. However 'Daybreakers' scores with a unique twist in what is becoming an overworked genre: What if the undead are the majority? In 2019, due to a plague, most of the world's population have become vampires and the few humans left are hunted down and farmed for blood. This topsy-turvy "new normal" is sharply and amusingly depicted as being eerily similar to current living with the important difference that the populace go about their business at night and enjoy shots of blood in their coffee. Aging, famine, and disease have been eradicated, however sunlight is lethal. There is also still a class system, with destitute vampires who cannot afford a regular fix of blood turning into violent, deformed creatures called "subsiders".

But there is a problem. The vampires' insatiable appetite for blood has driven the residual human population to the point of extinction and left the blood supply almost exhausted. Enter Edward Dalton (Ethan Hawke), a scientist working for a massive pharmaceutical conglomerate headed by the evil Charles Bromley (Sam Neill). His job is to find a blood substitute to ward off mass starvation. Dalton secretly sympathizes with the remaining humans and hopes that his work will result in their persecution being halted. After connecting with some human survivors, he realizes that there may be an even more radical solution to the problem. However, not every solution is profitable..

From beginning to end this film is big, gory fun. There are some interesting and agreeable plot twists and the film's more metaphorical aspects (which are not exactly subtle to begin with) are upfront but not preachy. The special effects and action scenes are top-notch also, particularly a gruesome set-piece near the film's climax. The Spierig brothers also manage to insert some big scary jolts at regular intervals. All the cast are solid but special mention should go to Sam Neill who does not chew scenery as the main villain of the piece but definitely nibbles here and there. Willem Dafoe is good too, as always. "Daybreakers" also passes a key horror movie test: when you leave the theater, the outside world does not look quite as reassuring as it normally does. Well worth seeing.

Daybreakers is about a plague that has transformed most every human into vampires. Faced with a dwindling blood supply, the fractured dominant race plots their survival; meanwhile, a researcher works with a covert band of vamps on a way to save humankind....but you already knew that. Like putting a plastic bag over some one's head, things quickly get violent and out of control.

Special effects: Moderate, not much was needed for the movie. The death of the vampires were a little more violent than usual, however the entertainment behind it balanced it out.

Plot: "Find a cure or we all die" has been used frequently before, and there wasn't much of a twist.

Setting: The setting was a dark futuristic setting, Imagine Las Vegas at night...with all white neon. Perfect setting for this movie. Worth seeing? Yes. Not worth sprinting to the theaters, however it is worth seeing. I'd give it a 7/10.

This movie is such a relief from the romantic necrophilia of the Twilight series. It's good to see scary vampires again.

In the near future, a bat-borne plague has turned 99% of the human population into vampires. The remaining humans are hunted down and farmed for blood by a corporation headed by Charles Bromley (Sam Neill), an individual who views vampirism as a miracle since he was dying before the plague broke out. There aren't many humans left though, and when a vamp goes without blood, they turn into grotesque Nosferatu variants called subsiders. Bromley enlists his top hematologist (Ethan Hawke) to come up with a blood substitute, but an underground band of surviving humans has a different resolution in mind.

This film has a unique premise, and for the first hour or so, I thoroughly enjoyed exploring the world that Michael and Peter Spierig created. The opening scene shows one of the downsides of vampirism, as a girl takes her life rather than be stuck in a child's body for eternity. There were other fun touches thrown in too, like blood coming in wine bottles and being poured over ice. The film's storyline touches on themes of corporate greed taking precedent over the good of the public, and there is an underlying oil subtext that is less than subtle.

The second half turns into a clichéd mess. The ending in particular is really cheesy as a result. Truthfully, I would have been happy if the whole band of humans idea had been scrapped entirely. Surely they could've come up with something a little better. I mean, this is a pretty creative film. Other segments of the picture seem rushed, like the subplot involving Bromley's daughter. Speaking of Bromley, Sam Neill is one of my favorite actors, so it was great seeing him in a genre film again. His presence is the highlight of Daybreakers. I've never much cared for Hawke, and his performance here did nothing to change my mind. Willem Dafoe also pops up, and while I usually do like him, his character here is annoying.

As is, chalk it up as a movie that could've been more. Oh well, at least it's way better than the last work from the Spierigs, Undead. That was one of the rare films that I stopped watching halfway through. Quick note: I saw a father and two young teens leave shortly after an early scene involving a gory testing of the blood substitute. Guess they thought this would be another Twilight.