Science Fiction is a great genre for filmmakers to explore. They can let their imagination run wild because there is no way someone can tell them they are wrong. They can create technologies, languages, and whole civilizations. Even if they do anchor their story with things that do already exist they can use them in different ways and give them a new look.
In the past this has been a hard thing to accomplish because little of their stories exist in the now. They do have to find a way to make things that don’t exist look real and be plausible. But with the continuing evolution of CG, animatronics, and make-up these things are becoming easier to create.
You would think this would help filmmakers tell a better story but no. Yes the visuals are more stunning and realistic than have ever been but the problem lies in the story. Writing and acting are being ignored and lost in spectacular images that have no meaning. This is very true in Daybreakers.
Due to a plague most of the world’s population has been turned into vampires. During the day the streets are deserted and at night they are alive with people pretending nothing has changed. It has been 10 years since the plague hit and the human race is on the brink of extinction. This is a problem because the longer a vampire goes without blood the more they loose all traces of humanity and become frenzied blood thirsty abominations. Edward Dalton (Ethan Hawke) is a haematologist looking for a blood substitute to replace the need for real blood but he has yet to find a solution. One day he runs into some humans and he hides them so they are not captured. Seeing that he is sympathetic to their cause he is recuited by Lionel ‘Elvis’ Cormac (Willem Defoe) who has found the cure for the plague.
Daybreakers has an interesting premise. It starts off well with an introduction to this nocturnal society and the main characters. It is tense, quiet, and foreboding. Everything seems almost normal; people go about their business in a dreary city where colours are muted. But then about 30 minutes in it just falls apart.
The beginning of the downfall of the movie starts at the introduction of Lionel ‘Elvis’ Cormac. The writing for this character is hokey. As soon has he is introduced the movie can no longer be taken seriously. And it is not just the fault of the writing, the directing tries to emphasize his importance but because what he says is so lame the whole sequence just seems like they are trying too hard. And the thing is Defoe just goes with the whole thing. He just over does it with the dramatics, an accent and the whole thing seems like a joke.
From that point on there is no real point to the movie. The dialogue is flat, the characters uninteresting, and the plot lame. The directing helps to punctuate the mediocrity of the whole thing by trying to interject dramatic visuals that are completely out of place. All those visuals do is make sure you see how bad the movie is.
There is no point talking about the other characters in the movie because they don’t do much. Everyone just seems to be going through the motions and no one tries to make it work.
I cannot recommend Daybreakers. It is another movie like Pandorum and 9 that has a good premise and looks great but they forgot the story.
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