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Daybreakers
In the year 2019, a plague has transformed almost every human into a vampire. Faced with a dwindling blood supply, the fractured dominant race plots their survival; meanwhile, a researcher works with a covert band of vampires on a way to save humankind.
Release : | 2010 |
Rating : | 6.4 |
Studio : | Australian Film Finance Corporation, Lionsgate, Furst Films, |
Crew : | Art Department Coordinator, Art Direction, |
Cast : | Ethan Hawke Sam Neill Willem Dafoe Claudia Karvan Isabel Lucas |
Genre : | Fantasy Action Science Fiction |
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Reviews
That was an excellent one.
Sorry, this movie sucks
Just perfect...
It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.
A civilized world in which most of the population is of Vampires is a really cool idea, and when the movie starts, you will be wowed by the world building for about 10 minutes but then you will notice a shift from the awesome world into more stuff which is not related to the awesome civilized world but more on the side of wild things which is something you can also see in other movies. So just because this movie does not focus on that cool world for the most part, this movie is just OK! So just keep your expectations lowered and you might just enjoy this one.
Vampires have taken over the world and the last remaining humans flee for their lives in the protecting light of the day, hunted and exploited. As for the vampires, nothing much has changed from their lives as living humans. People still go to work with their coffees, cars inhabit the motorways and special occasions are celebrated with a bottle. Except that in this case the coffee is laced with blood, the cars have protections against the sun and the bottles are filled with pure, uncut human heart blood. But now they face the problem of human extinction. There are almost no humans left to feed from and animal blood can only sustain you for so long. So what are the vampires to do?Daybreakers does a few things very well. The society inhabited entirely by vampires is an interesting one and handled with the right amount of dry satirical humour. The story that starts to unfold as the vampires look for a substitute is not a bad one and the inevitable cure for vampirism that gets developed – because of course it has that cliché – is at least something that I haven't seen before.Unfortunately that's also the film's biggest failing. The original cure introduced is good and certainly not something you see in every movie. But then it gets shunted aside for the more clichéd cure mechanisms and the whole final third of the movie falls into mindless splatter, gore and butchery. Mind, it's not bad gore, especially given the modest budget, but it's still disappointing because the beginning had dazzled us with its originality and promises of something new and different.Still, the movie has its definite upsides and is worth a watch if you want a slightly different take on the vampire genre.
As each genre evolves, it has to find new and creative ways to stay alive and entertain it's audience. The vampire genre has come a long way, from the grainy film stock showcasing a theatrical Bela Lugosi, to the slick, throat ripping Baltic nocturnal terrors of 30 Days Of Night. No other corner of horror (except perhaps the zombie arena) has worked so hard to reinvent, rework and revamp (hehe) it's aesthetic than the bloodsuckers realm, and it's in that area that Daybreakers is a huge success. Not necessarily the most groundbreaking or incredible outing as a film alone, it breaks impressive new ground in the vampire genre and had me wondering why no one had come up with such ideas sooner than 2009! In the year 2019, ninety five percent of the world's population are now vampires, following an outbreak decades earlier. The remaining five percent of humans keep an understandably low profile and continue to dwindle in this harsh new world. There's just one problem: vampires need blood to thrive, and once the last human is drained, they face a serious problem. In this lore, a vampire deprived of sustenance turns into a savage berserker that will attack anyone and everyone in pure feral mania. Vampire scientist Edward Dalton (Ethan Hawke) searches endlessly for an artificial blood substitute, partly out of an instinct to preserve a race that was never his own, and partly out of compassion for the humans he once called kin. Corporation executive Charles Bromley (a downright creepy Sam Neill) hordes the scarce resources, and chaos threatens on the horizon if a solution is not found. A bombshell drops, however, when Dalton stumbles across a rebel band of humans who claim that they were once vamps, until some variable turned them back into fleshy human critters. Led by hotshot renegade McCormac (Willem Dafoe dialling up the grit) they see a glimmer of hope in Dalton, not to mention his scientific prowess. Bromley sees the end of days and gets dangerous with his power, Dalton and newfound friends work to overturn the Vampire order, and gore splatters all over the screen in a sleek, entertaining and supremely gory film that should have a little more infamy. The R rating is gloriously wrung out as gallons of blood are thrown, flung and dripped all about the place and a real sense of supernatural, apocalyptic danger is attained with the story. Neill is an inspired choice to play a vamp too; Even when he's playing a gold hearted protagonist (remember how ominous he got with the raptor claw in Jurassic Park?), there's a semi dormant aura of menace that always dances in those Aussie eyes. Dafoe is at his best when his playing around in the genre theme park, and he's having a barroom blast here, getting to play the ultimate badass. There's a reverence for humanity here too, attention paid to a last ditch effort to save our race from a predatory one that is just trying to survive as well. Terrific stuff.
Daybreakers' concept is highly intriguing. In a world where vampires rule, the human population is dwindling and supply of blood is running low. Ethan Hawke's scientist Edward is trying to find a long-term solution to the vampires' problems. Edward comes across a human faction who may have the answer he's looking for. Sounds great, right? For the majority, it is. The action and acting coincide well with the story, but it's easy to see that The Spierig Brothers are handling a craft too broad for their own good. Sub-plots diminish under the bigger picture, and a slight romance between Edward and an insurgent human (Isabel Lucas) never quite catches flame. The CGI is under heavy scrutiny. It looks as if the effects budget was mostly used on one, gory scene.