Daybreakers (2009)

2009
Directed by Michael and Peter Spierig
Starring Ethan Hawke, Willem Dafoe, Isabel Lucas, Claudia Karvan and Sam Muthafuckin' Neill

God, it's almost been four years since this movie came out already?

I remember seeing the advance ads for Daybreakers and being very jacked about its prospects.  After all, it was released during the absolute height of Twilight-mania, when it seemed like every goddamn vampire in the entertainment world looked like they belonged on the cover of GQ and not, you know, in dark and dank places doing things like scaring you and sucking your blood.  A movie featuring vampires so starved for blood that they are attempting to craft an honest-to-goodness BLOOD SUBSTITUTE seemed like a very welcome proposition.  Throw in good production values and solid advance reviews and it sounded very intriguing indeed. 

For whatever reason, I didn't catch it in theaters, but I took the advice of a good friend and waited until procuring a Blu-Ray copy to check it out.  Needless to say, it was worth the wait, as this is one movie that looks freakin' glorious in 1080p resolution.  As I said a couple weeks back, directors of the world, take note.  THIS is how you take a film of somewhat limited budget and make it look epic and captivating.

PLOT:  A vampire plague hits humanity at some point in the future, and the creatures now rule the world.  This obviously presents many problems, the largest of which being a dwindling blood supply, as the vampires utilize their Army to capture the few scattere remaining humans in order to harvest them for blood.  The movie does a pretty damn admirable job painting this fictional world as well as the rules that it entails, as these vampires typically adhere to all of the usual literary rules - they burn like roman candles in the sun, they die by staking and beheading, they are scientifically undead, etc.  It's also got a pretty damn clever hook as far as its conflict, as a prominent hematologist finds himself kinda-sorta kidnapped by a band of surviving humans in order to find a cure for vampirism.  Having said all that...there is a fair stretch of Daybreakers that drags in the middle, as this is where a good portion of the "outside the mainstream vampire world" story takes place.  There's a fair bit of scientific lingo being thrown around here as blood testing becomes a focal point of the story.  However, sandwiched in between the fascinating first and action-packed third acts, it's forgivable.
PLOT RATING: *** 1/2 out of ****.

CHARACTERS AND ACTORS:  Ethan Hawke plays Ed Dalton, the hematologist for Bromley Marks pharmaceuticals and the man most directly responsible (not unlike Miles Bennett Dyson) for attempting to manufacture a "blood substitute" for the masses (and that early testing scene, by the way, is a doozy of unexpected gore).  He's also sympathetic to humans, and as your strong center of the film, Ed is someone who is easy to attach to.  But the real glory of this flick lies in the supporting characters, with Willem "Captain Manic" Dafoe playing the leader of the human resistance, Claudia Karvan as his loyal assistant...and then there's this guy.

Now, there are actors in the horror genre that I'm a fan of, but as far as I'm concerned, Sam Neill is the equivalent of the gold seal of approval.  He's done plenty of flicks of other types, but the sheer ability to vanish within dark characters is second to none, as evidenced by The Final Conflict, In the Mouth of Madness and Event Horizon.  In this film, he plays Bromley Marks himself, the business tycoon who virtually rules over this fictional world with an iron fist and serves as your star villain.  It's a role that suits Neill like a glove, and while he is only onscreen for perhaps fifteen minutes of Daybreakers, he owns it.
CHARACTERS AND ACTORS RATING: **** out of ****.

COOL FACTOR:  As previously mentioned (I won't say it this time), the Spierig Brothers are masters at getting the most out of their budget.  The dank world, while not quite a dystopia for most of the run time, has its own distinct look very different from the countless "steam punk" landscapes that seem to be all the rage with the kids these days.  There are multiple over-the-top gore set pieces in this film, the best of which occurring at the beginning and end of the film (and I think you'll know what I'm talking about when the scenes hit).  In addition to that, Dafoe's character is your classic "vampire hunting" action hero, a former vamp himself who has taken the name "Elvis" as his moniker.  While not quite as bitchin' as the King himself, I've got to say, he looks damn cool holding a crossbow.
COOL FACTOR: **** out of ****.

OVERALL: In the 3.75 years since Daybreakers was released, the "monster of the moment" has changed considerably in Hollywood.  Vampires are out, zombies are in.  This movie is nothing short of a wonderful return to form for the former, bringing them out of the "cool teen" dark ages and bringing the welcome tropes back with a vengeance along with a cool story involving plenty of tension and non-Michael Bay-ADD action.  I can only hope that, sooner or later, we get something different from the zombie genre, which has effectively been stuck in "rinse, lather, repeat" mode for what seems like eons now.  Here's the template to follow.  This is a flick that fires on all cylinders, and it comes with my highest recommendation.
OVERALL RATING: Bah Gawd, King, **** out of ****.  I'm trying to be a tougher judge now, and the four-star rating does not come lightly.