Movie Review: Daybreakers

Daybreakers was written and directed by Michael and Peter Spierig. By 2019 the majority of people on the planet have been transformed into vampires. Since the human population has been dwindled down to nothing the planet is faced with a shortage of blood supply, which sustains and keeps vampires alive. However, there are additional side effects besides starvation that occur due to the lack of food. The shortage of blood begins to physically disfigure the vampires and madness sets in causing the vampires to act nuts. Meanwhile the government and private industry are trying to develop alternative means of sustenance while milking the last of the human race of its blood. Meanwhile Edward Dalton, the main character played by Ethan Hawke, is trying to help the humans find a cure to help save humanity.

This film was terrible and the acting wasn’t that great. The talent they cast for the film was Ethan Hawke, Sam Neill, and Willem Dafoe. You would think that with these three actors that it would enhance the film and its story, but it just wasn’t the case. The acting was sub-par and unconvincing. It seemed like all three of these actors owed someone a favor and were repaying their debt by giving the bare minimum. The most interesting character in the film was Lionel ‘Elvis’ Cormac, who was played by Willem Dafoe. He served as the comic relief, but I don’t think he was originally intended for that purpose. I’ll put it this way, Willem Dafoe was the only reason I didn’t give this film a “F.”

The other interesting aspect about the film was how society as a whole functioned. They still had systems of government similar to what really exists, and the daily lives of the vampires were similar to what real people do. Vampires had jobs, families, hobbies and interests. The only difference was that most of the activity occurred at night. It was as if the most interest monster created was reduced to very boring, uninteresting depths. How interesting can a vampire coffee worker be?

They did deviate from traditional vampire lore however. These vampires weren’t stronger than normal and they didn’t run away from a crucifix. This film tried to take a more scientific approach. Humans changed to vampires by viral infections or contamination of blood by the infected. They did, however, keep the whole undead aspect of the mythology by claiming that these vampires don’t have a human pulse or heart beat, and that they don’t have any reflection in mirrors.

I would not recommend this film to anyone, at least to those who are willing to pay to watch a movie. It was as if someone took a knowingly bad “B Movie” and drove it into greater depths of crappiness just to see if they could do it; someone lost a bet to get this film made. If you’re thinking about seeing Daybreakers, I’d advise you to consider making it a “Blockbuster Night.” However, if you lack any amount of taste and somehow score free theater tickets, than knock yourself out.

Fanboyz Grade: D-