Willem Dafoe!!
Daybreakers (2009)
Directed By: Michael Spierig & Peter Spierig
The Prologue
I can remember before the film, Daybreakers came out. I recall seeing the trailers when they’d play on TV and thinking to myself, “Well, that looks different.”. Sadly, I then forgot all about it. The film’s release came and went and I don’t recall it doing that well, then again don’t recall hearing anything else about it, so I forgot. But a random watch of it on Netflix would remind me of the film. And not only that, it showed me a film that did a few different things with the old school Vampire thing. Different things that I enjoyed very much. As a matter of fact, I enjoyed the whole movie very much!
The Movie
In a world 10 years into the future, vampires make up the vast majority of the population with only 5% of the human race remaining. This presents particular challenges as the vampires’ food supply – human blood – is dwindling and rationing is now the norm. There is growing evidence that vampires deprived of an adequate blood supply are themselves evolving into wild, vile creatures that attack anyone and anything in order to survive. Dr. Edward Dalton, a vampire and hematologist who works for a pharmaceutical firm, has been working on finding an artificial blood supply that will meet the vampire society’s needs. He is sympathetic to humans and sees his work as a way of alleviating their suffering but his views on finding a solution change considerably when he meets someone who found a way to transform himself from being a vampire to again take human form.
So everyone is a vampire (well most people), and instead of running out of food or water, we have the worry with running out of blood here. That’s different isn’t it? It’s a good kind of different too. I’ve seen pretty much the same damn vampire movie with the same damn plot over and over and over, so seeing something new made me feel very happy. And it’s a bit of a shame that this film is lost upon soo many people when it’s not only clever in ways, but also full of some action and some blood. I mean come on, what more could you people want?? The main guy’s name is even Edward! So why no love for this, teeny boppers??
And we have the great Willem Dafoe playing a character named Elvis here as well, people!! How can you sleep on a film with him in it? Does the man over-act at times? Yes, but isn’t that part of his whole charm? While nobody is bad in this thing, I’d for sure say he steals the scenes he is in with a memorable performance, complete with a few interesting one-liners. And for you people who don’t think Mr.Dafoe is good enough, you have Ethan Hawke here too! I always think he does a fine. I don’t think he’s done anything on a Dafoe level, but he isn’t bad here. And given the way the film is presented, I think his character is just fine, even if it’s not outstanding.
But now as I was saying before, there are whole new takes some of the old school vampire lore here. Some that stick with tradition (nothing sparkles) but does a very cool thing of just adding new ideas to the old school stuff. Plus, there’s some action and drama here to keep you interested on top of some unsuspected amounts of blood, that I honestly didn’t think we’d get on a very high level..I’m happy I was wrong. The climax might not be the most breath taking final duel you’ll ever see, but it does it’s job and serves a purpose. It also seems to leave just a bit of room for a sequel if need be.
The Conclusion
The film doesn’t get a lot of talk about it, but it’s not by any means worthless. I found it to be fun and very clever in some areas. Maybe you could asked for a better overall conclusion, but this is what I’d call perfectly acceptable film making. And who knows, maybe one day when everyone finally remembers this film and watches it, it could earn it’s self a nice little cult following. But I’ll say this much for it, it’s worth watching.
The Rating (7/10)
