Daybreakers breaks the vampire mold
Chad Gamboa
Issue date: 1/20/10 Section: Entertainment
Judging by releases thus far, 2010 is shaping up to be an exciting year for movies.
Daybreakers, starring Ethan Hawke, Sam Neill and Willem Dafoe, is the newest vampire-thriller to hit theatres.
The story takes place in the near future, where almost every human being on the planet is a vampire. The few remaining humans are heavily sought after by elite tracking groups within the military. Once captured, they are turned over to a pharmaceutical company so that their blood may be farmed for the vampire population.
With the blood supply beginning to deplete, a blood substitute must be made in order to ensure the continuity of the human race. Without a blood substitute, vampires will undergo a hideous transformation into horrifying, bat-like creatures, mindlessly driven by the need to feed. Cue Edward Dalton (Hawke), chief hematologist at Bromley Marks, one of the pharmaceutical companies whose main source of income is blood farming. Although brilliant in his field, Dalton and his team have proved unsuccessful in creating a substitute.
While traveling home one night, Dalton encounters a band of several humans on the run. Rather than turning them into the police, Dalton helps them to escape to safety. Believing him to be a rare, trustworthy vampire, the group leads him to a human hideout where Dalton discovers an incredible secret: a cure for vampirism exists. To avoid a spoiler alert, suffice to say the rest of the movie consists of Dalton and a team of runaway humans trying to alert the public of the cure before the blood supply is gone and humanity faces extinction.
In recent times, the image of the vampire has undergone a vast transformation, and not everyone thinks it's for the better. The source of the transformation has been the hit Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer. Fans the world over have come to hold the epic love of Edward and Bella close to their hearts. However, there are many others out there who abhor Twilight for taking everything that being a vampire stood for and trampling it to death. The main argument for them is that vampires are always meant to be feared, not loved. They are first and foremost monsters, preying on the weak and feeding on them like animals. The hero of any vampire story is the one who arms themselves with as many stakes as the body can carry and stab each bloodsucker in the heart.
So which perspective does Daybreakers follow? Mostly one that is 'anti-Twilight'; the humans are the real heroes of the story, but it is all thanks to one vampire who hadn't completely lost his humanity. Cheers to Hollywood for putting a twist on things, asking themselves: We've seen what happens when a few vampires try to take on humanity and fail…what would happen if they succeeded?
The film still had a few shortcomings. Willem Dafoe's character, Elvis, seemed desperate to be cool, but ended up being hokey. You could also tell that some of the characters had really interesting backgrounds, but none of them really went into any depth.
Daybreakers, starring Ethan Hawke, Sam Neill and Willem Dafoe, is the newest vampire-thriller to hit theatres.
The story takes place in the near future, where almost every human being on the planet is a vampire. The few remaining humans are heavily sought after by elite tracking groups within the military. Once captured, they are turned over to a pharmaceutical company so that their blood may be farmed for the vampire population.
With the blood supply beginning to deplete, a blood substitute must be made in order to ensure the continuity of the human race. Without a blood substitute, vampires will undergo a hideous transformation into horrifying, bat-like creatures, mindlessly driven by the need to feed. Cue Edward Dalton (Hawke), chief hematologist at Bromley Marks, one of the pharmaceutical companies whose main source of income is blood farming. Although brilliant in his field, Dalton and his team have proved unsuccessful in creating a substitute.
While traveling home one night, Dalton encounters a band of several humans on the run. Rather than turning them into the police, Dalton helps them to escape to safety. Believing him to be a rare, trustworthy vampire, the group leads him to a human hideout where Dalton discovers an incredible secret: a cure for vampirism exists. To avoid a spoiler alert, suffice to say the rest of the movie consists of Dalton and a team of runaway humans trying to alert the public of the cure before the blood supply is gone and humanity faces extinction.
In recent times, the image of the vampire has undergone a vast transformation, and not everyone thinks it's for the better. The source of the transformation has been the hit Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer. Fans the world over have come to hold the epic love of Edward and Bella close to their hearts. However, there are many others out there who abhor Twilight for taking everything that being a vampire stood for and trampling it to death. The main argument for them is that vampires are always meant to be feared, not loved. They are first and foremost monsters, preying on the weak and feeding on them like animals. The hero of any vampire story is the one who arms themselves with as many stakes as the body can carry and stab each bloodsucker in the heart.
So which perspective does Daybreakers follow? Mostly one that is 'anti-Twilight'; the humans are the real heroes of the story, but it is all thanks to one vampire who hadn't completely lost his humanity. Cheers to Hollywood for putting a twist on things, asking themselves: We've seen what happens when a few vampires try to take on humanity and fail…what would happen if they succeeded?
The film still had a few shortcomings. Willem Dafoe's character, Elvis, seemed desperate to be cool, but ended up being hokey. You could also tell that some of the characters had really interesting backgrounds, but none of them really went into any depth.
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