Daybreakers

My wife and I decided to snuggle in and watch the movie Daybreakers last night.  I remember being intrigued by this movie when the trailers were first out, as it was portrayed as neat twist on the vampire movie.

Sometime in the near future, a 'vampire plaque' hits the world.  A funny thing happens though...rather than fight it, Buffy style, a large enough portion of the population, fearing for their own mortality, accepts the blessing of being immortal for the small price of needing to drink blood and not being able to go out in direct sunlight.  Once the majority accept this, everyone else is along for the ride.

One problem with this ideal world...when more and more people become vampires, then there are less humans left for the vampires to feed on.  As uninfected real humans are captured and rounded up, then Matrix Style, they are hooked up to machines where they are kept alive and 'farmed' for their blood.  Sam Neill runs the 'evil company'(we know they are evil because they are 'MULTINATIONAL' and employee security troops) that is farming humans...but they also have a research branch, headed by Ethan Hawke's character, who are trying to find an acceptable blood substitute. 

As the movie gets rolling, we learn this blood substitute is really important...as, there is less than a 1 month supply left of human blood to feed the vampires.  But, it's not ready yet...and early tests with it cause vampires to projectile vomit...and blow up, which might be even harder to get out of clothes.  We then learn that when vampires don't get enough human blood, they begin to 'devolve'...they get ugly, grow wings, and get CRAZY!  If they get hungry enough that they feed on other vampires(or suck on their own wrists) they get really bad, really fast. 

Obviously, this will cause problems.  We also learn that Ethan's character has brother issues...it seems his brother turned him against his will, and Ethan refuses to drink human blood, because Human's are people too!!!! 

Things are looking bleak until Willem Dafoe shows up.  He is a member of a band of human survivors. We learn Willem is a cured vampire.  Ethan Hawke, much more interested in a cure than his artificial blood, sets out to see if he can recreate the circumstances that 'cured' Willem, experimenting on himself.  At this point my wife asked my why what they did to cure themselves would work.  Stunned that THIS was the point she decided to seek clarification on, I told her hey...at least they don't glitter in the sun.

At this point there is some fighting, and some betrayal...you see, a lot of people don't WANT to be cured so they can die of cancer.  There is more fighting...we learn the vampires explode in neat little fireballs when they are staked...much more satisfying than dusty puffs of wind like on Buffy.   The big climax is where we learn that there is a much easier way to pass on the cure than what Ethan Hawke and Willem Dafoe did to themselves.  And then there is much more gore, and the movie is done. 

It's not a bad flick...say about a 7.5.  Ever since Jurassic Park, I have liked Sam Neill.  In this one he plays a good, cold bad guy.  Willem Dafoe makes movies better just by being there, and while he is no Agent Smecker, he chews some scenery.  Ethan Hawke seems to be the same character he is in every movie...not sure what it is my wife sees in him...all I ever see is angst.  One of the things my wife noticed about the movie is the smoking.  Since the vamps don't have to worry about cancer, everyone smokes...SWMBO said it felt like she was watching a movie from the 1950's...

Compared to the other 'The Vampires have won' movie, 'I am Legend', I liked 'Daybreakers' better. 

That might just be because even though 'I am Legend' was better than 'Omega Man', it is still not as good as it COULD be.