Review: Daybreakers

The general rule of thumb for long delayed films is that they suck. That is why studios sit on them, that is why they get dumped in a month like January to die a quick theatrical death. Every now and then, however, there is an exception to that rule. The original Boondock Saints languished for a while before if found its audience on DVD. Equilibrium never even had a chance after months of sitting on a shelf and a marketing campaign that clearly didn't "get" the movie it was selling, and Midnight Meat Train didn't even get the courtesy of a theatrical run, it went right to art houses and dollar theaters. The first new movie weekend of 2010 brings us another long on the shelf genre film making one last gasp for air before you find it in the WalMart 3 for 10 dollar bin. Daybreakers, which was shot 2 years ago, finally its the screens, is it as bad as it was treated or do we have a new genre film worth loving?

Short answer, Daybreakers is much better then it got treated. That said, I understand the reluctance of the studio to release this in the prime Vampire month of October. The film has a very cheap feel to it, not the kind of cheap that you would see on the SyFy channel, but the effects and most of the locations look like they were done on a tight budget. I give credit to the directors, The Speirig Brothers, for trying to mask the minimal budget with a stylistic tone and feel to the locations, but most of the burning effects are just down right horrible. The film might have been much better had they simply "assumed" the vamps were burning alive, instead of trying to show us. The over all design of the near-future world does get a few things very right though, and the vampire suburbs are a good example of well made budget design.

Enough with clear problems with he film, I said it was much better then it was treated, and I do mean that. The acting is uniformly great with Ethan Hawke doing a good job of lending the lead Vampire Ed the kind of emotional internal struggle between the monster he has become, and the humanity he is trying to salvage. Sam Niel is great as the scheming head of the worlds largest blood bank and when the film allows him to be more then just a one note villain he rises to the challenge bringing depth to a character that could very easily have been a flat caricature. The true star if the piece, however, is by far William Defoe who seems to have so much fun in his role as a leader of a band of humans. He is every bit as gritty and gruff as you want, and Dafoe's supreme ability to toss out one liners makes him a favorite that I would love to see again in the future.

Overall I did enjoy the film, and fully recommend it to anyone who has a passing interest in films set in the future staring Vampires that are about to make the human race extinct. The technical quality might be lacking but the acting is superb and story presents a few interesting takes on Vampires, which in and of itself is an accomplishment in this True Blood and Twilight world.

3 and a half "Im the Guy with the Crossbow"s out of 5