Writer: Ezekiel Lee Zhiang Yang

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Watch this if you liked: “Near Dark”, “Sin City”, “Underworld”

Vampire movies seem to share the immortality of their subject matter - they simply don't die or go away. The novel thing about "Daybreakers" from the Australian Spierig twins ("Undead", 2003) is a 2019 premise where the undead grossly outnumber the living and we can see vampires in business suits, jeans and sports attire going about their daily lives, while human beings are farmed for blood in a futuristic "Matrix"-like environment to help sustain the macabre majority.

This post-apocalyptic scenario is cinematically delicious, if only to see a consumer lifestyle based on such a social arrangement. The story is centred on a blood doctor (a resurgent Ethan Hawke) who is trying to find a more satisfactory answer to a diminishing blood bank by formulating a usable replacement in his labs, financed by an evil corporation led by a supplier CEO (Sam Neill) who ironically sells blood through government endorsements. Thrown into the mix are a group of non-compliant human refugees led by a beautiful girl (Claudia Karvan) and also the rumoured revelation of a vampire (Willem Dafoe) who has turned human again via an unlikely mystery procedure. The key to the saving the world lies in this peculiar convert.

"Daybreakers" isn't "Twilight" but it does veer towards drama instead of action. However, the instances where action does come into play, they come in strong! It's an uneven story at best, punctuated by "Sin City" noir moments and yet culminating in a rather sci-fi climax that might not be completely satisfying to most audiences.

A solid cast keeps the story suspenseful and the movie as a whole does have its moments. It's a useful addition to the tired genre, although there's nothing groundbreaking here like the Russian "Nightwatch" movies. It's not really a scary movie but a half-decent attempt at sociological sci-fi.


Cinema Online, 25 January 2010