Monday, May 31, 2010

Movie Monday - Will The Real Vampire Please Stand Up

Daybreakers


Written by: Peter Spierig and Michael Spierig

Directed by: Peter Spierig and Michael Spierig

Released: January 8, 2010

Rated: R


Summary: In a world 10 years into the future, vampires make up the vast majority of the population with only 5% of the human race remaining. This presents particular challenges as the vampires' food supply - human blood - is dwindling and rationing is now the norm. There is growing evidence that vampires deprived of an adequate blood supply are themselves evolving into wild, vile creatures that attack anyone and anything in order to survive. Dr. Edward Dalton, a vampire and haematologist who works for a pharmaceutical firm, has been working on finding an artificial blood supply that will meet the vampire society's needs. He is sympathetic to humans and sees his work as a way of alleviating their suffering but his views on finding a solution change considerably when he meets someone who found a way to transform himself from being a vampire to again take human form.





Finally a vampire movie in the wake of all this Twilight BS that makes sense. I’m sorry, but vampires don’t sparkle in the sunlight, their eyes don’t change colour depending on their diet, and they sure as hell don’t fall in love with psychotic… I mean psychic teenage human girls. This movie takes the entire vampire myth and turns it into something completely modern. It’s like if Blade and 28 Days Later made a baby… sort of.

Anyways, the point is that this movie was rather good. Sure, I went into it thinking that it might just be a B horror movie with semi-A list actors. I mean, there are three actors that are really big names in this movie and the rest all seem to be from Australia and I’ve never heard of them. Still, the acting was pretty good no matter the popularity of said actors.

What really made this movie was the entire premise of it. The idea that vampires take over the world is rather ridiculous but it’s the later years that this movie portrays that really make the story. Think about it; vampires are basically parasites who feed on human blood. The blood banks are low as it is now, imagine how it would be if vampires took over and humans were close to extinction? It would be the equivalent of if suddenly all that was left on earth were poisonous vegetation, salt water, and mosquitoes. People would turn on each other and become undistinguishable cannibals until no one was left. I like how this movie took that sort of idea and made it the final product.

The one thing that I didn’t like was the cure. Ok, I get the initial cure, but the second one (sorry to ruin a bit of the story) was a little bogus and seemed to be a little bit of a cop-out. To me anyways. But hey, this is a movie so what can you expect?

At least the ending wasn’t all sunshine and roses, so that was good. And it ended the movie well. It may not have tied it up all nice in a little bow, and it did leave it sort of open to the possibility of a sequel, but what movie is completely perfect now a days?

I’m giving this movie a 7/10. I don’t know if I would choose to watch it again just for the hell of it, but I wouldn’t not watch it again with other people.

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