Forget the fang-less and broodingly romantic vampire hero chick flick Twilight, it's time for a real vampire film.
Daybreakers offers a breathtaking plot, more action, and of course more gory and in the mid of watered-down vampire movies both on the silver and the small screen, this film would feel like a breath of fresh air.
The Spierig brothers, Michael and Peter, came to the scene to bring hell to the faux vampire movies and Daybreakers is indeed the real deal.
Daybreakers turns the run-of-the-mill vampire story on its head. Set in the year 2019, this film tells the story about vampires finally taking over the world, when life starts at night fall.
Just like our present world, the vampires dresses in a suit and stands in lines for lattes, well, mixed with a few drops of blood. The supply of blood that the vampire population live off is, however, in short supply as the number of human population is getting thinner and this has put the survival of the vampire race in jeopardy.
To deal with the shortage of fresh blood, vampires are forced to drink their own blood, an action that only causes more problems as it turns them into fierce bat-like creatures, causing more panic.
As part of an effort to deal with the crisis, humans were hunted by a batch of militaristic vampires and later harvested for their blood by a company run by Charles Bromley (played by Sam Neill). Bromley's company is also under pressure to find the most convenient substitute for blood.
Enter Edward Dalton (a superb Ethan Hawke), a lead character in the movie, a hematologist who is hired to find the substitute for human blood.
Dalton has a tremendous amount of respect towards mankind that he refuse to drink their blood and opts for animal blood.
Dalton's sympathy toward the human race has won him a trust from Audrey Bennett (Claudia Karvan), the woman leading a struggle against the domination of vampires. It does not take long for Bennett to contact Dalton and let him know that there is a cure that will solve the blood supply problem.
Dalton's encounter with Bennett led to another encounter with Lionel "Elvis" Cormac (Willem Dafoe), a reformed vampire who opts to remain human.
But the road to finding the miracle cure is not easy and Dalton undergoes a series of experiments with the help from Elvis and Bennett. Along the way he also dealt with mortal threats from vampires, including his brother Frankie (Michael Dorman), a hunter.
More than anything else, Daybreakers serve best as a parable for human society, prompting us to ask how we can manage a sudden shortage of resources. It is also stinging criticism of our penchant to waste natural resources.
The actors have been well cast. Sam Neill, widely known for his role as Dr. Alan Grant in Jurassic Park and Jurassic Park III, a strong performance, portraying a multidimensional character as a father of a human daughter, but at the same time he is hard-pressed to find a blood substitute to save the existence of vampires as well as his company.
Among the doom and gloom, the Spierig brothers could inject more fun into the movie, however. As any other vampire movie, this film has enough graphic scenes to merit an R rating, and it would comfortably sit alongside George Romero's Dawn of the Dead.
The positive of this movie is the Spierigs decision to to do away with the vampire romance genre that is all the rage today.
Verdict : All Twilight fans should stay away from this movie. This is only for serious vampire fans. The fierce fights, gunshots and bloody scenes only double the fun.
Daybreakers (98 minutes, Lionsgate)
Directed by Michael Spierig & Peter Spierig
Produced by Chris Brown, Sean Furst, Bryan Furst
Written by Peter Spierig, Michael Spierig
Starring Ethan Hawke, Willem Dafoe, Claudia Karvan, Sam Neill, Michael Dorman, Isabel Lucas
