Daybreakers 21/2 stars out of 5. Starring Ethan Hawke, Willem Dafoe and Claudia Karvan. Directed by Peter and Michael Spierig.
Bloodsuckers are hot at the moment. Whether they're seducing ambivalent teenagers or causing a ruckus in Bon Temps, Louisiana, people seem to love retellings of the mythic vampire. This time around it's science-fiction, it's 2019 and vampires have taken control of most of the world.
Although the script has existed in development hell for over five years - and might have felt more fresh before two seasons of True Blood, the inescapable Twilight juggernaught and those Kate Beckinsale Underworld adventures - it's hard not to feel vampired out by this point.
Ethan Hawke is vampire hematologist Edward Dalton with an undead heart of gold (he refuses to drink human blood) working to find a cure for an encroaching human blood crisis. Although the remaining humans are hunted and farmed for their blood (creepy imagery alert), the numbers are dwindling and without blood, the vamps mutate into monstrous, winged super-strong creatures (don't ask how or why).
Although manufactured blood substitutes cause over-the-top vamp exploding, Edward gets a lead when he conveniently crashes into a carload of human survivors. One named Audrey (Claudia Karvan) who was cast for her looks and not for her acting and will probably assume the role of love interest, eventually takes Edward to meet the sole supplier of comic relief, a former vamp, turned human Elvis (Willem DaFoe). How Elvis became human again, and how this can be distilled into a cure for the rest of the vampire species, is of course ludicrous, but who am I to criticize the logic of a vampire film?
One issue I had with the nifty premise overall was the careless mixing of near-future dystopian sci-fi and purely fantastical vampire hokum. The filmmakers strive to create a believable future with super-strong, shape-shifting, immortal, entirely supernatural vamps in control, but then expect us to believe the human blood shortage (cornball metaphor alert) is a real crisis, when these beasts could surely find other means of survival (Other species? Cloning?).
Sure it's a neat idea to see vampire fast-food joints serving 20 per cent human blood coffees, and how they send the purists into a frenzy, but it all sometimes feels assembled for a big implausible gimmick.
Also problematic are pacing issues. The film begins with deliberate exposition and moralistic dialogue before devolving into a few big chases, shoot-outs and vampire explosions. And since most of these principal vamps and humans seem largely safe, except when an obligatory Heroic Death will serve the script, the story lacks the suspense to reel us in.
Daybreakers is slick, well-shot and devises some cool production design (namely the windowless cars) for a world run by sun-hating vamps. Unfortunately, the story is too sober and humourless (outside of one character) and the plot too gimmicky to make us believe this future could ever really happen.
Mike Sage is a documentary filmmaker, editor and film critic. He can be reached at mikewsage@gmail.com.
