Daybreakers

Finally! God I only hoped this day would come again! I’d hoped but never thought this would actually happen as quickly as it did, but wow this is great! At long last, a vampire movie with actual freaking vampires in it! Fuck “Twilight”! To fucking hell with those movies! They’re boring, stupid, boring, sexist, a terrible love story and did I mention boring? But I think the biggest problem for me was this…. VAMPIRES DON’T FUCKING SPARKLE IN THE DAY LIGHT!!! They catch on fire and die! It’s established lore and it’s something everyone knows and this movie’s opening I like to think is a big middle finger to that stupid stupid fucking idea.
Whew, ok so “Daybreakers”. The plot of the movie is that the world has succumb to a plague that turns everyone into vampires. The remaining humans are scattered and hunted down to be farmed for blood, but the supply is dwindling and they need to find a substitute or they will die after turning into vicious Nosferateau looking things that just have feeding on their mind. It’s an interesting concept and a strange way to take the idea of the vampire and blood as addiction or disease and add the idea of using its lack as a metaphor for oil. Yeah it’s something everyone is doing these days, and it’s honestly getting a little annoying but it was I think done pretty well here. The pace never drags and it doesn’t really preach like other movies, it just uses it within the story.
It’s assisted by the movie’s brilliant production design, which perfectly subjects to this new world like Ridley Scott was able to do in “Blade Runner”. It’s starkly ominous and dull like things are beginning to get neglected. There are little touches like the amount of blood the coffee shops are putting in the coffee is being used as a marketing tool. The design of the cars being able to drive the vampires safely in the daylight is also very interesting and adds to the world as a whole.
And immersing us in this world is a great way to set the stage for the performances, which all do their job. Really that’s all I can say. Willem Defoe plays his part with competence and is very good as the former vampire in the film. Ethan Hawke adds nice vulnerability to his character and adds to the idea that the vampires here aren’t mindless, some want their humanity back. But if I had to say anyone steals the show, it’s the villain played by Sam Neil. His character is such a guy you love to hate. I think the peak of his awesome villainy is towards the end where he’s drinking blood out of a wine glass and talking about how it is packed with the great smell of fear, god it’s nice to have an awesome vampire like this after those pussies from “Twilight”.
Plus the make up effects are just amazing. Yes, this movie has CGI, it’s an unavoidable thing these days. But really, it’s mostly for backgrounds and cityscapes, the creatures are mostly suits and prosthetics, really fucking amazing prosthetics and suits. They have a nice Nosferateau feel to them and are very articulate. To top it off they actually seemed to have hired people that know how to act to play the starved vampires. The characters have the tiniest glimmer of humanity left in them but they’ve fully gone dependant on blood as it is their first and main drive. It perfectly shows that the right person in the right kind of suit can work way better CG characters, and they didn’t need to hire Doug Jones for it!
The script is tightly written, and really has nothing that glaringly stands out as a flaw. The story makes sense, the plot flows nicely, all the changes to characters don’t come out of the blue and the main goal of finding the substitute, or better yet, a cure keeps the audience engaged and really brings us into the story. Same with the editing and I already talked about the production design.
This is a perfect example of a movie that just works. Are there things I could nit pick? Oh yeah every movie has those. The difference here is in a bad movie, the nit picks become all the more glaring because honestly, the movie sucks hardcore so why should we let it get away with them? However in a good movie, you may notice, but why should you care? The rest of the movie is so good that it can get away with them. Like “Gremlins”. I love the movie but when I stop and think there are some HUGE plot holes in that movie, but the rest is so well done that I honestly don’t care. So what if snow is water and if the Gremlins touch it they should multiple like rabbits on Viagra? I don't care, I'm entertained! Really "Daybreakers" is just good. I can’t talk about it enough. It’s tightly written, full of drama and action without being silly and it’s well acted. Unlike “Twilight” which I really want to just stop at this point. This fad is probably the most damaging thing that has come out of the last decade of Pop Culture. However, I like to think that “Twilight” is just that, a fad. It’s something that is going to die out after awhile and be forgotten as our generation’s “What the fuck were we thinking?” pop phenomenon, like leisure suits or most of the fashion from the 80’s. I really think that “Daybreakers” will end up being a cult classic. This movie will last and “Twilight” won’t. I like that idea.