Released in theaters: 1/09/2010
Daybreakers, written and directed by The Spierig Brothers, is a vampire horror flick that takes place in the future. It’s a dark futuristic look at a world that has been plagued with vampires and the vampires plan for survival as the dwindling human blood supply is leaving them fighting to survive. The director’s first released this film at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival and it has been something I was looking forward to seeing since I heard about it. The film was a fresh look at a vampire film, as it actually followed the vampire rules unlike the horrific Twilight movies. Daybreakers still is wounded from a weak script and a lead performance from Ethan Hawke that falls flat. The premise is an interesting one and the technique is interesting but the story doesn’t hold up through the entire hour and a half as Daybreakers burns to pieces as the plot thickens.
It’s 2017, and a virus has spread across the earth, turning its inhabitants into vampires. The humans, who are farmed for their blood, are in short supply, and food shortages and the mutations that result when vampires feed on their own are endangering the vampire society. Edward Dalton (Ethan Hawke) a reluctant vampire works as the chief hematologist at a major blood bank. The C.E.O., Charles Bromley (Sam Neill), sees profit by being able to sell artificial blood. Edward one day joins with a small group of humans led by a woman named Audrey (Claudia Karvan) and a man who calls himself Elvis (Willem Dafoe). Edward understands their cause, and he agrees to help them, but has no idea what he’s in for.
The premise is a good one, and is the reason I was so excited to check this vampire flick out. In the beginning it showed a lot pf promise, as the world that the directors created was a very cool looking futuristic setting. The more and more we got into the plot the more outrageous the story became, and the more I was pulled out of the world they were creating. This has to do with a shallow script. The ideas were there but they just seemed like one good idea short of making this interesting all the way through. Then finally the ending screwed the story up the most.
I have never been a fan of Ethan Hawke. Sure he was good in Training Day but probably because he was teamed up with the great Denzel Washington. He just seems terrible at showing emotions and every time I noticed his mediocre acting it took me even more out of the story. Willem Dafoe was decent in his role, but he was delivering weak lines from the shallow script. This film had so much potential with a really cool idea for a vampire flick, it’s a shame because if the directors had a better developed script and some different casting decisions it might of turned out a lot better.
Daybreakers had a few positives though. The beginning of the film is very cool and some of the ideas that they touched on were also cool to see. There is one intense scene in the house when a mutated vampire breaks in to steal some human blood that Edward and his brother were sharing. It ends in one hell of a mess. Also the end of the film is so extremely bloody that I was almost in shock from the amounts of gore on screen. They must of went through a shit ton of corn syrup. One particular shot in the elevator was freaking cool as hell.
If you are a fan of straight up horror and gore then this film might interest you enough to enjoy, but if story and acting are your forte then you might want to stay away. Daybreakers was an interesting idea that just had weak execution.
IMDB: 7.2/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 66%
Moviewiseguys: 6.5/10