Ok I saw Daybreakers last night, and you know what? The movie was epic! Say what you want about vampire movies, this one redeems them from the horror of Twifail for me. Loads of gore, great acting, you actually feel something for the characters! Willem Dafoe was great as Elvis (yes, his character's name is Elvis, or so he calls himself) and Ethan Hawke makes the name Edward cool again. As for the story/plot, it's original. It's 2019, 10 years after the first vampire epidemic, the majority of the world is made up of vampires while few humans remain. The vampires are trying to find a blood substitute because their supply is running low as many humans have been hunted and harvested of all their blood. Edward Dalton (Hawke) is the top scientist of the big-time corporation in charge of coming up with a blood subsitute. By random chance, he runs into a small group of human rebels trying to find vampires that will help in their cause of finding a cure to turn the vampires back into humans (in this movie, it's a disease that turns people into vampires). Edward soon realizes that he can cure vampires when he finds the means to turn himself back and must do so before all vampires become Subsiders (mutated vampires that have taken a more bat-like Nosferatu form due to lack of blood).
Now, here's the crazy part some might not understand. The "cure" Elvis found (because he was the first vampire to human that it happened to) was by accident. It turns out that the diseased vampires need to be exposed to sunlight for a certain amount of time before being doused with water. Some how, this turns them back into humans. As Elvis put it, "It was like being hit by a bolt of lightning and having it kick start your heart". After being turned back into humans after this conversion, if the human is bit again, they cannot turn back into vampires, rather the vampire that bit them turns back into a human. The guess in the movie is that it's some chemical in the blood that does this since Edward and Elvis were the only two vampires that went through the sun exposure process.
The movie does make you think. It brings up an interesting thought as to what it would be like if the population of Earth had somehow become vampires. There's nothing special about these vampires. They can't read minds, jump far distances, or move at lightning speed. In fact, the vampires live a normal exsistence just as we do now. I suppose one could possibly see an underlying comparison to how our population, especially here in the U.S. is very dependant on fossil fuels as we try to work to and worry that we won't find a more "green" solution.
The best part about this movie?
1. The vampires don't sparkle. Huzzah!
2. When prolonged exposure to the sun happens, the vampires go up in flames.
3. The vampires don't have "skin as hard as stone that can't be penatrated" and can actually be staked in the heart. Actually when it happens in this movie, the burts into flames and explode kind of.
4. They have no reflections! When you see them in a mirror or window reflection, you only see their clothes. No heads or hands. Talk about old school!
5. Subsiders are creepy! They look like this:
Subsider 1Subsider 2One of the more funnier aspects of this movie is that all the vampires are chainsmokers and hardcore coffee drinkers. Just about every vampire is chugging blood coffee out of paper cups (barring a striking resemblence to Starbucks Coffee cups) and appearing to smoke a cigerette to save their lives. Especially funny when you see the stuck up 14-year-old preppie vampires doing it the most.
In the end, I was pleseantly satisfied with the way the film turned out. Admittedly, I was afraid that it wouldn't live up to the hype that was created by the trailers and it did. The tone for the film is pretty much set from the first scene of the film. It's an intense storyline balanced with dark humor. I implore my fellow ATGers to give this movie a chance and at least see it once before declaring that it's just another dumb vampire movie.
