Posted on: October 4th, 2009 [REVIEW] Daybreakers

My time with the Calgary International Film Festival has come to a close. I’ve seen some great films such as Trick r’ Treat and Best Worst Movie, and last night’s screening was no different with the upcoming vampire movie Daybreakers, written and directed by Peter and Michael Spierig.

Daybreakers takes place in the near future, 2019, where the majority of the world’s population have been turned into vampires through a plague started by a bat. Businessmen, police officers, waitresses, women, men and children, all vampires. The cities and towns come alive at night and dawn becomes the new dusk. The film follows Edward Dalton (Ethan Hawke) a lead hemotologist for the world’s main blood-distribution company. With the human population dwindling making blood-farming impossible, and a failed attempt to create synthetic blood, Edward switches sides in an attempt to stop humankind from extinction.

Not only is Daybreakers a refreshing return to the vampire genre – Twilight, among others, have soured the mythos as of late – it’s also an incredibly unique concept. For the most part, the vampires in Daybreakers are like normal people, not the monstrous villains we are used to. Instead we’re shown how they serve as the example of evolution, the next step in become flawless versions of humanity. But for all intents and purposes, their world is not much different than ours; they still have jobs, they still succumb to marketing, they still line-up for their morning coffee, though theirs comes with 20% human blood instead of Splenda.

The film does a great job of explaining all this history, the status quo, the rules of the film so to speak, during the first few minutes. Before you know it, you’re submersed in this interesting concept, and by the time the shit hits the fan the film has won you over. Ethan Hawke is great as the film’s lead, the sympathetic, perhaps abundantly moralistic vampire whose life’s work is to find a better way to exist without depleting the earth of it’s most precious resource – humans. Hawke brings the necessary amount of empathy needed to make this character interesting while at the same time holds a great amount of screen presence required to invest in him as a leading man, as well as his plight in the film. The rest of the cast does fairly well, with Sam Neil convincingly bringing his megalomaniac vampire character to life, and Willem Dafoe shines as the film’s bad-ass anti-vampire and comic relief – he’s actually quite funny too, in a scenery-chewing kind of way.

Special attention must be made to the film’s set-design and cinematography. The not-so-distant-future of Daybreakers comes off like the missing link between our world now and the noir-tech cityscapes of Blade Runner. In no way is this future an unrealistic, unattainable one; if you’re to take the stance that a massive outbreak of vampirism could happen, then Daybreakers paints a photo-real future. The film’s score is impressive and works perfectly for the tone and pacing of the film. Weta Workshops handled the visual/creature effects for the film. Given the relatively small budget for Daybreakers – $21 million – the CG is fairly good. Certainly not as great as some of the more recent visual effects, but nowhere near as bad as I Am Legend. The creature design is really inventive too, and legitimately scary (there are no goddamn diamond skinned vampires). You’d be hard-pressed to tell that Daybreakers wasn’t made with a heaping ton of Hollywood money; the film is painted unmistakably with mainstream quotient.

I highly recommend Daybreakers if you’re a fan of horror or vampire films – I’d even go as far to say that you actioners that liked the Blade movies will really enjoy it. Not only is it superbly produced and inventive, it’s just a ton of fun. It is also a great film to see with a really respectful but enthusiastic audience; mine in particular was quite vocal during the intense (see, gory) and funny scenes, and the film makes that acceptable; it’s pacing accommodates such reactions to a tee.

Get out there and see Daybreakers as soon as you can, if you can; if not, the film opens in theatres January 8, 2010.

Trailer:

2 Responses to “[REVIEW] Daybreakers”

1. Ben Rankel Says:
   October 4th, 2009 at 3:28 pm

   Wow. Great review. I’m hooked and supremely interested in seeing this now.

2. 2010 Film Guide – Pt. I « Giant Killer Squid - Film, Comics, News, Reviews and more Says:
   November 23rd, 2009 at 9:10 am

   [...] majority. As the human race nears extinction, one vampire risks everything to save them. Check out my review for the film – this is not a prissy Twilight flick. When is it: January 8. Watch [...]

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