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SYNOPSIS: The
year is 2019. A mysterious plague has swept over the earth,
transforming the majority of the world's population into vampires.
Humans are now an endangered, second-class species –
forced into hiding as they are hunted and farmed for vampire
consumption to the brink of extinction.
It’s
all up to Edward Dalton, a vampire researcher who refuses
to feed on human blood, to perfect a blood substitute that
might sustain vampires and spare the few remaining humans.
But time and hope are running out – until Ed meets Audrey,
a human survivor who leads him to a startling medical breakthrough.
Armed with knowledge that both humans and vampires will kill
for, Ed must battle his own kind in a deadly struggle that
will decide the fate of the human race.
MOVIE
REVIEW:
With
a skeletal budget of $20 million, Australia-based the Spierig
brothers (who made the zombie thriller, The Undead) managed
to create an original vampire thriller that is way entertaining
above the usual crop of Hollywood remakes and reboots.
It’s
the year 2019; an unexplained plague has turned the world
population into vampires. The remaining humans are being hunted
and harvested for their blood. Hematologist Edward Dalton
(Ethan Hawke) who works for a pharmaceutical company is trying
to come up with a blood substitute to solve the world’s
dwindling blood supply. But his boss, Charles Bromley (Sam
Neil) has other plans of his own. Together with an ex-vampire,
Elvis (Willem Dafoe) and a human Audrey (Claudia Karvan),
Edward must work out a solution before a blood fest broke
out.
The
script by the Spierig Brothers contains lots of interesting
social and political undertones though pathetically fail to
delve further. The initial setup is nevertheless ambitious
and daring to say the least but with the appearance of the
character Elvis, the story is thrown into an upheaval state
of cheeseball horror comedies that the only way to enjoy "Daybreakers"
is to leave your mind behind. Dafoe especially chews up the
screen spouting hilarious one-liners and corny dialogue and
Neil whom we have not seen on the big screen for a while is
competent as the sinister corporate figure.
Lacking
the luxury of big studio projects such as "I Am Legend"
and "Constantine", the creature and visual effects
which were handled by Weta workshop and smaller effects houses
respectively hovers between dodgy and gory, clearly all in
the name of good fun. With a minimal running time of 98 minutes,
the haphazard ending might upset a few and the ludicrous cure
to vampirism lacks a certain level of believability I must
say.
Undeniably
despite the weakly scribe premise and the sudden demise of
intelligent narrative, the Spierigs proved they are quite
adept in choreographing car chase and slick vampire action.
Are they up for future major studio projects? I’m sure
they are. Forget about emo-filled vampires or muscle-bulging
wolfmen, everyone should have no problem sinking their teeth
into "Daybreakers".
SPECIAL FEATURES :
NIL
AUDIO/VISUAL:
Audio
comes with an underwhelming Dolby Digital 2.0 that fails to
produce a more robust experience while the visual is presented
in a fullscreen format.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD
RATING :
Review
by Linus Tee
Posted on 14 June 2010
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