Daybreakers: Film Review
Hollywood continues to suck every inch of life out of the vampire genre. The market is awash with movies about blood sucking fiends – and I’m not talking about Michael Bay.
It’s always refreshing then to see a movie like Daybreakers challenge the accepted formula.
Despite its best efforts though, Daybreakers never really lives up to its intriguing premise.
Daybreakers: A Vampire movie with a Difference
Daybreakers kicks things off by turning the vampire genre on its head. The world looks different upside down. Vampires are the dominant race, the dwindling human population reduced to mere paupers.
With the blood supply drying up, the Vampire mainstream faces a race against time to secure their survival.
Cut straight from the dystopian cloth of George Orwell’s 1984, Daybreakers presents an interesting exposé on life in the vampire kingdom. And the socio-political subtext is rather timely. Daybreakers subtly explores issues of immigration, the class divide and the financial crisis.
The Gothic Aesthetic in the 21st Century
Michael and Peter Spierig, the writing/directing duo behind this near-future vampire thriller, seamlessly blend the Gothic aesthetic with the film’s 2017 timestamp.
The beautifully rendered set design echoes the gothic landscapes of Tim Burton’s Batman.
I’m not sure why, but this reminds me of a story:
A few days back I bumped into pop-star Cliff Richard at a health food store. Cliff was rummaging through the dried foods section when I got to telling him about an old school friend of mine – also named Richard – who had the misfortune of falling off a cliff many years earlier.
He plummeted 50 foot onto a cluster of jagged rocks below. Doctors said it was a miracle that he walked away with little more than cuts and bruises.
Kids being kids though, he quickly earned the title of Cliff Richard. A name, I might add, which stands till this day. My pop-star buddy looked back at me with disbelief as I assured him of the story’s veracity.
Daybreakers: Now Where Was I?
…Oh yeah, the set and lighting design is superb.
Michael and Peter Spierig create immersive environments the likes of which can be seen in classics such as Children of Men, Dark City and Blade Runner.
But as the saying goes: looks aren’t everything.
After the 40 minute mark, the intriguing premise ends as so many movies do these days. It goes all Transformers. Fight scenes aplenty explode off the screen as the fate of the world rests in the hands of a group of characters. Throw in an army of machine gun-toting vampires and the rest is history.
To its credit , Daybreakers resists the temptation of engaging in Matrix-style fighting. Slow-mo kung-fu has become the lazy man’s answer to action nowadays. So it’s interesting that our heroes in Daybreakers are about as handy with their fists as Ghandi.
It’s always boggled my mind how, in many vampire films, the living dead emerge from their muddy graves with the skill set of Bruce Lee. If my childhood taught me anything, it’s that you can’t learn the ways of the ninja simply by watching Karate Kid.
Daybreakers: Time for the Sun to Come Up
Daybreakers is a promising work that falls down under the weight of its own limitations.
In the end it simply bites off more than it can chew – and I tried so hard to avoid vampire puns in this review!
Rating: 
– available on Blu-ray and DVD
chevychaser
6:46 pm, August 13, 2010
I thought Daybreakers was fangtastic. theres a pun 4 ya!Nice review as ever.
Dumbo500
2:24 am, August 15, 2010
William Defoe had the most silly beard eva in Daybreakers, killed the film for me. He was better as jesus in Last Temptation.
Paul Amsted
5:23 pm, August 20, 2010
I thought Daybreakers was great up until half way through where it went back on itself, instead of making Daybreakers different from any other vampire film, it turned out just like every other one i’ve seen. Poor mistake from director after it had such good premise..nice review though
Aidan Wheatley
12:09 pm, August 24, 2010
I agree you paul – i enjoyed the first half of the film and then we took a break to go for a coffee and then we came back and the film seemed to have changed, maybe it was the caffine rush or maybe it was the film, either way i didnt enjoyed the 2nd half! Nice review one again!
Sam
5:57 pm, March 19, 2011
good review, agree with how it turns the genre on its head, and that the first half was better than the second when the scene was being set.
Also, I like Cliff Richard.