Daybreakers and a Breakthrough

Eureka, a breakthrough. I’m not sure if it was from going to see Daybreakers yesterday, or just all the collective time I’ve spent immersed in thinking, reading, and writing about vampires, but I finally got a direction I’d been searching for. It’s a fairly critical plot point, I’ve been dancing around this incident almost all the way through the now 291 pages worth, and never could hit on what this thing needed to be. As I was sitting in the theater watching the movie, something else came to me, but of course wasn’t able to write it down and now it’s gone. Maybe if I keep thinking about it I’ll remember. Or maybe I should go see the movie again, and keep pen and paper in my lap.

Daybreakers was an interesting alternate future, albeit extremely gory and bloody which interestingly hardly bothered me at all. Normally it’s not my thing, I must be in a really dark place these days because I didn’t have any issues with it. If you go to see it, pay attention to all the little newsbites that flash on during the opening credits, they set up the story.

I have to say there were some plot holes that were pretty glaring, and yes I know I need to suspend disbelief at the movies especially when it’s a vampire movie but some of it felt like a comic book that had been filmed, there was so much illogic. The futuristic fashions of the vampires had a decidedly retro feel, putting me in mind of Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, but I will say there were scenes where the tension was high and I could feel the fear. Sam Neill was pretty chilling as the vampire CEO. I’ve loved him in everything I’ve seen him in since “Reilly: Ace of Spies.” I also thought Ethan Hawked turned in a fine performance. Willem Dafoe was as quirky and weird as ever, and had undoubtedly the best lines in the film. The film is short, about 90 minutes, which means Willem didn’t get nearly enough time on-screen for my tastes (and maybe they could have patched some of the plot holes with another thirty minutes). Then again, there are no super-human heroics with the good guys triumphing over evil in some ridiculous way. It’s pretty gritty and dark (and not just because most of it takes place at night) with some moments of realistic portrayal of how things might actually shake out if such a world were to come to pass (think Children of Men): Mob mentality, riots, general ugly behavior.

Much as I love me some vampires, I would hope never to see that world.