Daybreakers (2010)
Directed by Michael Spierig
In the year 2019, a plague has transformed almost every human into a vampire. Faced with a dwindling blood supply, the fractured dominant race plots their survival; meanwhile, a researcher works with a covert band of vampires on a way to save humankind.
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Entrepreneurial capitalist Charles Bromley (Sam Neill, looking uncannily like Joe Lieberman) wants to corner the market (his warehouse full of naked hanging bodies is reminiscent of the human condition in The Matrix) and exploit the crisis.
Hawke has the same leanness of Keanu Reeves in "The Matrix" and "Constantine," but with the key bonus of not being Keanu Reeves.
Though "Daybreakers" is more akin to "Gattaca" than "The Matrix" - and not just because it stars Ethan Hawke.
The poster loudly proclaims that it's The Matrix meets 28 Days Later, and there's an intelligence in its construction which, like those movies, lifts it above the standard sci-fi/horror/action fare (see: the Underworld series).
"Daybreakers" is not for the squeamish, but it's certainly for people who appreciate the futuristic looks of "Gattaca" and "Blade Runner," the post-apocalyptic content of "Children of Men" and "28 Days Later," the blood splatter of "Evil Dead" and "Drag Me To Hell," and the vampire focus of every single piece of pop culture in the past two decades from "Blade" to "Underworld."
I’m talking about the “movie X meets movie Y” style of cinematic analysis, and it’s how I plan to open my review of Michael and Peter Spierig’s Daybreakers: “It’s Gattaca meets Near Dark … sorta.”
Though "Daybreakers" is more akin to "Gattaca" than "The Matrix" - and not just because it stars Ethan Hawke.
While much of the film feels (and not just due to the presence of Ethan Hawke, who oddly spends the last half an hour of the film looking exactly like Han Solo) like vampire Gattaca as the machinations of the rebel-underground-vs-evil-corporate-overlords-and-there's-also-a-family-betrayal-subplot revolve, there are a handful of truly scary, truly sublime scenes of the best kind of vampire carnage, gory and stylish and terrifying.
It�s more of a science-fiction dystopia borrowing heavily from Richard Matheson�s I Am Legend, with a side order of Gattaca.
"Daybreakers" is not for the squeamish, but it's certainly for people who appreciate the futuristic looks of "Gattaca" and "Blade Runner," the post-apocalyptic content of "Children of Men" and "28 Days Later," the blood splatter of "Evil Dead" and "Drag Me To Hell," and the vampire focus of every single piece of pop culture in the past two decades from "Blade" to "Underworld."
I was sold the moment I didn't see Ethan Hawke's reflection in the rear view mirror of a sleek, futured-up Chevy cruising through the best Blade Runner future two Australian indie filmmaker brothers could create.
With its Blade Runner-like vibe and clever script that explores every angle of how a vampire society would work, Daybreakers has substance and smarts, plus lots of visual treats for the fanboys – a mix to keep everybody happy.
The rationed near-future of Daybreakers recalls Soylent Green—except everyone knows they're eating people, because almost everyone's a vampire in 2019.
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(Think Max Schreck in Nosferatu, only less dapper.)
The Spierig Brothers' breakthrough film, Undead (2003), showed enough gory promise and witty use of OTT special effects to make their follow-up effort a calendar-crossing must-see for horror buffs.
So goes the premise of Daybreakers, a profoundly original genre story created by Australian filmmaking brothers Michael and Peter Spierig who cut their teeth some years ago with the campy, but successful zombie flick, Undead.
Horror nuts who attend film festivals and / or bother to look past the studio releases on the horror shelves will no doubt remember Undead, a scrappy and exceedingly raucous horror / sci-fi combo that the Spierig brothers offered a few years back.
The writing-directing brothers, whose previous credit is the zombie thriller "Undead", are quickly becoming the Wachowskis of the horror genre.
Peter and Michael Spierig's earlier, campier horror outing, the zombie picture known as "Undead," was even bloodier than this one.
My initial hesitation with “Daybreakers” was brought on by the Spierig Brothers, who last created the 2004 zombie comedy, “Undead.”
The ambitious scope and all-encompassing vision of an alternate non-human society recalls Dark City (1998); unlike Alex Proyas’ ultra-stylish noir fantasy, the loving embrace of genre fundamentals and choice of American ring-ins that feel very much like gimmick casting makes Daybreakers the bastard-child of the 10BA* era.
I’m talking about the “movie X meets movie Y” style of cinematic analysis, and it’s how I plan to open my review of Michael and Peter Spierig’s Daybreakers: “It’s Gattaca meets Near Dark … sorta.”
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Haggard vampire with yellow eyes and a bad smoking habit is a great look for Ethan Hawke, who has carried a ravaged appearance since sometime between "Before Sunrise" (1995) and "Before Sunset" (2004).
Haggard vampire with yellow eyes and a bad smoking habit is a great look for Ethan Hawke, who has carried a ravaged appearance since sometime between "Before Sunrise" (1995) and "Before Sunset" (2004).
Research hematologist Edward (Before Sunset's Ethan Hawke) is a reluctant vamp, surviving on pig blood and refusing to touch the human stuff, while working with a team of scientists toiling at a bio-corporation in a race to discover a blood substitute.