Released: January 18th, 2010
Starring: Ethan Hawke, William Defoe, Sam Neill, Claudia Karvan
Writer/Director: Michael Spierig and Peter Spierig
Description: In the year 2019, a plague 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.
[Review may contain spoilers. Please watch movie before reading, unless you don't care. Most of these films have already been released for a while, so they should be readily available.]
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Movie or TV shows involving vampires always draw an interest from me. Shows like "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", "Angel" and "The Vampire Dairies", and movies like, "Blade" and "Underworld" rank high on my list of favorite entertainment choices. So when I saw "Daybreakers" in the Instant Queue I quickly added it.
The 2010 film takes a twist on genre by having the vampires be the dominate species on earth, which honestly is how it should be. The idea that vampires could never adapt enough to overthrow the human establishment is ludicrous. But the issue that occurs with this world is that as the number of vampire grows, the human population dwindles, and ergo the food supply becomes scarce. Maybe I missed a movie, but this seems to be a concept I haven't seen much. Even the story that sunlight can actually cure vampire is a novel idea I'd like to see explored more.
The movie itself isn't all that exciting in terms of action, but the times when it does ramp up it is very dynamic. This is because of the good direction and cinematography by the Spierig Brothers and Ben Nott, respectfully. I especially like the crane shot when a caravan of humans were surrounded by the vampire army and used the lights on their truck (infused with UV) to light the area and create a barrier to keep vampires out. It's a great shot for building tension, and there were multiple shots like this through out the movie.
There's not a single stand out performance. Sam Neill, Ethan Hawke and William Dafoe turn in very professional, solid work. The failure lies with the supporting actors, who really didn't do much to, I guess, support the lead actors. The movie needed a memorable performance, such as Wesley Snipes in "Blade", to make this film more than just a decent effort.
Mediocrity is this movie's biggest problem. Outside of some solid writing, and a very plausible story (well, as plausible as a vampire story can be), the movie just doesn't have anything else going for it. It's watchable, but I wouldn't really go out of my way.
Rating: 6/10 -- Nice twist on the vampire genre. Hawke, Neill and Dafoe keep the it from become a snooze-fest. The vampires don't sparkle.
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