Daybreakers

Vampire movies are a dime a dozen. With the sudden flood of vampire interest how can a new property make an impact? Daybreakers gambles with something a bit different with the genre. Can Daybreakers sink its teeth into the movie going public or does it come off dry.

Daybreakers is a vampire thriller written and directed by Michael and Peter Spierig. The Australian born brothers are known for a visceral and violent style of movie making, and Daybreakers does follow suit. Still relatively new to the movie world, Michael and Peter have two other films to their name, with one being thirteen minutes long.

Daybreakers brings in a few heavy hitters to fill its roles. Ethan Hawke plays Edward Dalton, a vampire hematologist who is working on a blood substitute for the pharmaceutical company Bromley Marks. Dalton is sympathetic to the human race and feels the need to save them. His boss Charles Bromley (Sam Neill) is less caring about humans, and runs Bromley Marks. Willem Dafoe plays Elvis, a human resistance fighter, and ex-vampire. The acting is a strong point in this film, and pulls you into the story fairly quickly.

The art direction is steady with a few shots that seem to be out of place, though this is a small complaint. The CGI is at times terrible, and really hinders the films pace. Luckily this only happens two or three times with the rest of the film looking rather good. I do feel that while the acting was good, a more experienced director could have gotten a bit more out of the actors. That being said I have no doubt that Michael and Peter will do better with each future film.

I liked this movie. While it did leave me wanting more, I still feel that this film is solid and should be seen. The acting is good. The feel is good. A film about a civilization of vampires could easily come off cheesy, and Daybreakers makes its mark.

Sorry about the vampire puns…I could not help myself.