“Daybreakers”
- Plenty of Bite, but Coagulated
By Adam Pope
January 21, 2010 Issue
Bela
Lugosi is probably rolling over in his grave at all of the arrant
“fangs-ploitation” in the media these days. Vampires
have gone from menacing and taboo creatures of the night to sparkle-skinned
pinups plastered on the walls of tweens around the nation. Between
the shameless promotion of television’s vampish soap operas
(True Blood, The Vampire Diaries) or the media whirlwind
of the Twilight books and movies, it is easy to arrive at the
point where you wish every vampire would go eat a garlic sandwich.
Whatever happened to vampires that bite and burn instead of sparkle
and mope? Daybreakers is the latest attempt to mine the
vampiric mother lode, but at least it presents an intriguing story
idea.
By the year
2019, a plague of vampirism has successfully seated vampires as
the dominant caste of society. Humans are around in underground
terrorist cells, but most are kept unconscious and pump blood
intravenously to blood banks around the world (remarkably similar
to the human fields in The Matrix). The supply is rapidly
dwindling, and the vamps are becoming worried. Culture remains
eerily the same. People still ride to work in sunlight proof cabs
and subway trains, and even Starbucks is still around offering
a new 20 percent human blood mocha latte.
Enter brooding and
sullen vampire Edward (no, I’m not kidding), a hematologist
working for the “blood farms” and trying to create
a synthetic blood substitute to solve the approaching blood famine.
It soon becomes clear however that the suit-wearing vampire CEOs
(Sam Neill among others) aren’t about to give up their monopoly
on the blood industry and cause Edward to do some maverick research
with a troop of renegade humans which leads ultimately to the
last thing anyone expects—a cure.
There are a lot more
bumps and hiccups along the way, but the script by Aussie twins
Peter and Michael Spierig is one of the movie’s strengths.
Their directorial inexperience is the movie’s biggest weakness.
The film suffers from some of the strangest shot sequences and
angles in recent memory. Long, loping overhead shots that zoom
in to close-ups are frequent and unnecessary. Ethan Hawke and
Willem Dafoe were clearly given the go-ahead to do whatever they
wanted with little direction—this works beautifully for
Dafoe and miserably for Hawke. Dafoe plays one of the last humans
with enough spirit to fight back, Elvis. Like the late King, he
has a deliciously comic southern drawl and is prone to humming
Presley ditties whilst plugging vampires with an oversized crossbow,
the antithesis to Hawke’s bland performance.
With more
experienced direction and more believable dialogue, Daybreakers
could have been one of the most remembered vampire movies in history.
But with its tone deaf characters (besides Dafoe), over the top
gore sequences and sequel-hungry ending, it will be remembered
simply for what it is—a flawed yet flashy visceral thriller
that takes the first step on the long path of giving back vampires
the teeth the teenyboppers filed away.
NEW
COMEDY NOT “REVOLT”-ING
When a film like Youth in Revolt comes along, it reminds
me of why people make movies, as well as the fact that originality
still has a place in American cinema.
The film stars Michael Cera as Nick Twisp, a geeky and slightly
insecure teenage virgin who is desperate to become more worldly.
The only problem is, becoming a sophisticated ladies’ man
is simply not within his realm of capabilities. Convinced he will
most likely die a virgin, Nick decides to create an alternate
persona—and ego—named Francois Dillinger. Francois
is everything Nick longs to be, particularly when it comes to
courting the opposite sex.
The plot might
not be that original, but the success of this film is clearly
in the details. For starters, the characters are incredible. Nick/Francois’
parents are played by Jean Smart and Steve Buscemi. The couple
are divorced and each has a new live-in partner or significant
other. The Hangover’s Zach Galifinakis plays Ms.
Twisp’s shady truck-driver boyfriend, a role that showcases
the actor’s unique comedic ability. Nick’s love interest,
Sheeni Saunders (played by up and coming, Portia Doubleday), is
not your typical teenage romance heroine. Sheeni is an intelligent
and independent girl whose only concerns are living life out loud
and getting out from beneath her intensely religious parents.
She wants to be with Nick, but makes no apologies about not putting
her life on hold for him.
Youth
in Revolt features a great soundtrack and some incredibly
fun animation that further develop the plot. All of these elements
add up to a refreshing comedy that also scores high marks for
originality. This quiet little indie comedy is truly the little
engine that could, so see it now. We can all relate to having
once wanted to be someone else—in this case, you get to
live that out vicariously through the Nick and Francois characters.
- Lauren Gall
DVD OF THE FORTNIGHT
When it comes to movies, I never get tired of variations on the
Die Hard formula, stories about the mechanical shark
from Jaws failing to work, and anything concerning Muhammad
Ali. Pete McCormack’s documentary Finding Ali finds
a new way to tell the story of the Greatest—through testimony
by 10 men who faced Ali in the ring and lived to tell about it.
The viewer learns a lot about Ali, and plenty more about George
Chuvalo, George Foreman, Joe Frazier and others. Chuvalo shares
a heartbreaking story about the loss of his sons to drugs, and
it’s nice to see Leon Spinks alive and well, preparing meals
at a homeless shelter.
- Christopher Manson
BEACHCOMBER
READERS ON RECENT MOVIES
“Avatar is the most stunningly beautiful film I’ve
ever seen. I saw it in 3-D—which I usually don’t care
for—but I feel it was essential…to fully immerse the
viewer into the world of Pandora.”
- Sonja Lamb
“Avatar…the
script is crap, but the cinematography is spectacular! In fairness,
the script was written over 10 years ago…”
- Frith O’Brien
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