Review: Daybreakers
In 2009, an event called The Outbreak occurred and vampires emerged to become the dominant species on the planet. Brother turned brother, parents turned children, and those humans who refused to turn were forced to run or be put into large, sterile rooms where they would be sedated and farmed for their blood.
Daybreakers takes place ten years later. In 2019, the vampire bloodfarms are running out of humans. As a result, strict rationing of blood is put into place. A side effect of the blood deprivation is a devolution into a feral, less than human creature called a subsider. As blood supplies dwindle, the number of subsiders are increasing.
Enter Edward Dalton (Ethan Hawke), Chief Hematologist for Bromley Marks. Ed’s goal is to create a blood substitute which, in his mind, will mean that vampires will not longer have to feed on humans to survive. Charles Bromley (Sam Neill), Ed’s boss, is happy to foster those thoughts of goodwill, as it helps keep Edward on task and on mission.
One night, Edward saves the lives of four on-the-run humans, and later is visited by Lionel ‘Elvis’ Cormac who, it turns out, has somehow been cured of his vampirism. Ed goes on the run with the band of humans, looking for way to cure himself, and later, all of vampirekind. Bromley, who stands to make a lot of money by marketing a blood substitute to the masses while saving some very expensive pure human blood for his wealthiest customers, stands in complete opposition to the entire concept of a cure, and therein lies our conflict.
I need to admit that I’m pretty burnt out on the vampire genre as a whole. We’ve been at it since Anne Rice resurrected the genre with her Vampire Chronicles, and most attempts and reinventing the vampire myth have been mediocre at best, Twilight at worst. Two things made me want to see this movie. The first was the casting: All three main male roles are actors I love to watch, each is masterful at what they do. The second was that I wanted to see how they handled the vampire cure. I was pleased with both.
The female lead, sadly is forgettable. In fact, I cannot even remember the actress’s name as I write this. As I was watching the movie, it seemed like she was cast specifically NOT to compete with Neill, Dafoe, and Hawke for top billing. The reality is that she’s not really much of a love interest. Save for having a generic female in the movie for Ed to latch on to, I didn’t see that she brought that much to the game.
That being said, there were a number of small things that I liked about the film, mostly small touches:
- Practically everyone smokes like a chimney. If you’re immortal, why not? This also goes well with the next point…
- The settings, lighting, and camera work was very film noir. People dressed like it was the 1940′s, the nationalistic vampire Uncle Sam poster is reminiscent of WWII wartime propaganda posters. It reminded me a lot of Dark City in that respect. The only thing even remotely futuristic about the movie was the sound the cars made as they drove past…the sound of an electric engine.
- The relationship between Ed and his brother Frankie is nicely done. You feel the tension when they interact, but the subtext of love is also there. It worked for me.
My dislikes are the dislikes I have for a lot of movies these days: too bloody, too much gore without an actual purpose. I can think of one scene which actually warranted the carnage displayed…the rest was simply gratuitous. I could have done without it. This, I suspect, is because I did not think of this as a horror movie walking in. Oddly, I had it more in the SF/Urban Fantasy genre in my mind after seeing the original trailer.
It’s not a great movie. It’s a good bit of fun for a Sunday afternoon, but I would not go out of your way to see it.
The Breakdown
Rating: 2.5 out of 5 cured vampires
Worth: Renting, or maybe a cheap theater. I paid $6.75 for a ticket, and it was too much.
Most memorable point: When Ed asks Lionel how safe it is to be hiding out where they are, Lionel responds with, “It’s about as safe as barebacking a $5 whore.”
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Tags: daybreakers, ethan hawke, Movies, sam neill, willem dafoe
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