Movie Review - Daybreakers

Daybreakers (2010)

Starring Ethan Hawke, Willem Dafoe, and Sam Neill

Directed by Michael and Peter Spierig

***This film is currently streaming on Netflix***

Oh, lowered expectations, how you please me at times.  Now, it's not like Daybreakers is a masterpiece, but it's an enjoyable B-movie style vampire flick that brings an entirely new premise to the screen that proves to be moderately intriguing in its uniqueness.

It's 2019 and us humans have all but been obliterated by vampires.  While there are some rogue groups of homo sapiens out there, for the most part, the fanged monsters have taken over the earth.  They seemingly live just like humans -- drive cars, have jobs, wear normal clothing -- but they just need a blood supply to survive.  However, since they've managed to eradicate nearly the whole human race, the vampires are attempting to find a blood substitute and hematologist vampire Edward Dalton (Ethan Hawke) is leading the charge.  (Side Note:  Between this and Twilight, do all vampire protagonists need to be named Edward?)  Edward actually despises his need for human blood and hates the "farm system" his employer, the wealthy Charles Bromley (Sam Neill), has set up to both collect and sell the "product," so when he meets Elvis Cormac (Willem Defoe) who says he has a way of turning vampires human again, Edward is undeniably fascinated.

The story of Daybreakers really sold me.  I mean, maybe it's been done before, but this was fresh and extremely interesting to me.  Co-directors and co-screenwriters the Spierig Brothers definitely brought something new to the table.  Their somewhat-dystopian vampire society was brought vividly to the screen by both their visuals and their story.  Granted, the dialog is sometimes straight from B-movies of yore and the acting falls into one of two categories -- over-the-top (Sam Neill and Willem Defoe) or mind-numbingly muted (Ethan Hawke) -- but neither distract greatly from the overall tone of the film.

The RyMickey Rating:  B