Daybreakers

It's hard to find a good vampire movie these days. With Twilight and New Moon and all that business going around the world, one can only be too careful. Sure, this movie wasn't without its camp or cliche vampire themes, but it was refreshing and excessively gory. Two of my favorite things.

As you can see the movie is very beautiful. It is set in 2019 after vampires have populated the world, and humans are about 5% of the earth's population, if I had to guess. Technology is more booming than it is now, and news all over the world addresses vampirism as if it is humanity and completely normal. The change of tides is often referred to as The Outbreak, even though the general population does not seem to consider their condition an illness that requires a cure.

Edward Dalton (Ethan Hawke) is the main character in this dark utopia for the undead, and is first shown to us onscreen as an absent reflection in a three piece suit in his side mirror. He is a silent, brooding type, but not the typical Angel or Louis de Point du Lac by any means. He is simply what Ethan Hawke would be like if he was turned into a vampire in real life. Poetic, tortured, sensitive, sweet, beautiful, and straight edge?

Okay, maybe not straight edge. He is seen chain smoking cigarettes through the entire first half of the film, but if you're a vampire, and they can't hurt you, then why not? I guess he's more of a vegetarian of sorts, but I hate to refer back to Twilight, it makes me sick. Anywho, Ed is a hematologist at the major blood corporation in America. He works for the big whigs and is working hard to find a human blood substitute. He tried different saline-looking solutions and different mixes, but everything he tries ends up in a bloody mess (literally). His abstinence from human blood is driving him to work harder so that his company can stop harvesting humans for blood like pods from The Matrix.

Ewww.....

Ed's boss is Sam Neill who seems to have taken a break from acting after the very underrated Event Horizon. Welcome back to Earth, Sam Neill. Sam tells Ed of his daughter who despised him after he turned into a vampire. He said she ran away and never looked at him the same. Although this look into the Trump-like character's life is nice, it is hard for me to believe that he is sorry.

Ed goes home and runs into some humans with his car. He saves them from being seen by the police and makes googlie eyes at the girl. He goes home for a birthday drink with his brother when something like this comes in and crashes the party.
Oh no!

Ed and his brother kill the monster, and find out that it was actually a neighbor of theirs who hasn't drank human blood in three weeks or so. Earlier that day, his boss gave a presentation on the degenerative aspects of going hungry. The world is going through a blood famine, and if Ed can't find a blood substitute soon, this will happen to all of them. Talk about a wake up call.

The girl human somehow manages to sneak into Ed's back door and tells him to meet her at this place in the middle of the day by a tree. She leaves after giving him a map and says that she can trust him. I don't know about you guys, but isn't it going to be a little dangerous for a vampire to meet someone at noon? I guess not.

The technology boom of 2019 has that covered too. Not only do their doors open by ocular recognition and other Gattaca references, but the cars have something that is called "Daytime Driving" that activates panels to cover up the shields and windows, and activates a panoramic camera on top of the car, allowing the driver to view all sides around him at any given time without being burnt to a crisp. Those vampires think of everything, huh?

Edward goes to this tree at noon with his technology and meets his girlfriend who tells him to pull up to the Lion King Tree Of Life. There he meets up with who else but Willem DaFoe who tells him he used to be a vampire just like him. The two of them shake hands in the shade and it is very cool.

Trouble comes in the form of his military brother following him to this tryst, and our protagonist is faced with an immediate decision. What does he do? He goes with the humans to help their cause. Although I would love to go further into this plot and give literary comparisons along the way, I'm afraid I cannot. Unlike a television show, you only get one shot to see this, and I don't want to ruin this for you. I just want to give you a taste, to get you revved up a little bit.

Not that anyone besides myself ever reads these, but maybe someone does, and I don't want to spoil Daybreakers for them. So, in conclusion, this film starts off beautifully with the dark 1940's imagery of a classy vampiric population, and ends beautifully with a slightly different situation. The blood and guts are very graphic in this movie, and are beyond the pale of most slasher pics I have seen quite recently. (There is a close up of a decapitation and people eating it). So there is that for the guys, and yes, Ethan Hawke takes his shirt off for the ladies. All in all, this was a good movie to give you hope after Twilight.

Cheerio