Daybreakers (Ethan Hawke, Willem Dafoe) : Movie Review

Daybreakers (the latest horror epic from The Spierig Brothers) is something of a revelation, not because it is a groundbreaking vampire tale in any way, shape or form – nor is it anything above “Oh Yeah… it’s Pretty Good”.

You see, Daybreakers (despite what is portrayed on screen) is actually an Australian movie… made for more than $3.50… shot in Australia, with an Australian cast… in which everyone speaks American? Hmmm.

Two-time Academy Award nominee Ethan Hawke gets back to his Gattaca futuristic roots as Edward Dalton, a researcher in the year 2019, a year in which an unknown plague has transformed the world’s entire population into vampires (meaning, the world is exactly the same, except to get to work you need to catch the 9pm train instead of 7am on account of the sun… which, with Melbourne’s train system… isn’t to far fetched a reality).

Anyhew – as the human population nears extinction (thanks to, you know, bloodlust), vampires must capture and farm every remaining human, or find a blood substitute before time runs out or they will all mutate into some seriously creepy looking uber vampires.

And not the sexy type with the brooding attitudes and mulit-million dollar merchandise deals we’ve come to know and love!

However, as always, a covert group of vampires makes a remarkable discovery, one which has the power to save the human race. If only the rest of the world would listen… and not eat them.

WHAT’S THE BUZZ
The Spierig Brothers (who shot to fame with the low-budget Undead) have put together a pretty fine genre piece here. It’s a good old fashioned “Vampires are Violent Killers” kick to the head to all those who have been lulled into snoozeville by Twilight. Out goes the sparkling bodies, in comes the ripping to shreds of body parts and the eating of human hearts.

It is also a shining beacon of light in the Australian film industry (although one that may upset the traditionalists who think Australian movies should have people speaking… well… Australian).

Not only does Daybreakers having the entire cast speak American make it feel like a REAL movie (not some arty junk about lower-class drug addicts for the 150th time this week), but it sure as hell opens doors to the idea of (even deceptively) getting Aussie punters inside a cinema.

As strange as it sounds – it is true.

By doing it this way (for a while at least) it allows Aussie and International audiences to see Australian actors on screen, see how amazing Australian locations look, see Australian directors at work and, while they are doing that, spending money on a film which gives jobs to Australian crews.

It’s not ideal – but it may be a necessary evil which, hopefully, leads the way. Then, over time, our film industry will be able to afford / ween the public back into seeing bigger budgeted, Australian accented, broader genre films.

Hell… we might even have ourselves a viable film industry then (bear in mind, the flick cost $22M to make… only $1M of which was supplied by the Australian Government, who gave Baz Lurhman’s Australia over $40 to play with).

It should also be mentioned that by keeping all accents the same – it makes the tradtional “Let’s fly in a couple of “Not Quite A-List” Hollywood Actors” deal far more paletable. Daybreakers doesn’t seem like Quigley Downunder… it feels like a genuine movie, which I think we can all agree, isn’t a thought that goes through our heads when we normally see an Australian made film.

While Daybreakers isn’t perfect (it does suffer from a case of the “greys”, and feels like it goes for A LOT longer than it actually does), it’s genuinely good fun.

The story is pretty solid – filled with some decent twists and turns, the cast are just swell (Claudia Karvan just keeps getting more attractive as time goes on), the graphics are low-fi but insanely effective…. and there is a SHITLOAD OF GORE! Best of all, the visuals are spectacular – those Spierig Brothers certainly have an eye for what looks good on cinema screens.

It delivers everything a genuine Vampire loving audience might want (blood, guts, invisible in mirrors) and much, much more.

WATCH OUT FOR
Heads being ripped off, guts being torn out, a very Matrix-esque slow-mo army man fight… and someone FINALLY doing to Vince Colossimo what should have been done a LONG time ago!

WATCH OUT FOR | RATING : 3.5 / 5

DAYBREAKERS BITES INTO AUSTRALIAN CINEMAS 4 FEBRUARY 2010