Saturday, January 30, 2016

Daybreakers

The Gist: A plague has turned most of the human race into vampires. With reserves of fresh, clean blood dwindling, the race to find a synthetic blood substitute is on, but a scientist is also hoping to find a cure and bring humanity back from the brink of extinction.

Ethan Hawke is as hot as ever as the forlorn vampire longing for his lost humanity. Willem Dafoe is a bit too crazy while Sam Neill plays a good villain.

The problem I have with this sufficiently entertaining movie is that apparently a vampire is turned back into human form after being almost burned to dust by the power of the sun.

Now, aside from the fact that there can be no coming back from burning up in the sun's light (unless it's the tiniest sun ray on a little patch of skin), how is a vampire supposed to go back to being human if he has no more functioning organs??!

I've complained in the past about changing the fundamental rules of the game just so that one can come up with a new story to sell. Vampires have their canon and it can't just be thrown out the window like that. If you want to do that, then just make a new creature altogether, but leave vampires alone.

Vampires are deceased human beings still able to walk around by feeding on human blood. They can't stand garlic, silver, and crucifixes, can be killed only if staked through the heart with a wooden stick, and sunlight is deadly to them. That's why they rule the night. You simply cannot just say, Oh well, in our movie the sun is actually what cures a vampire, making him human again.

Number one, there's no coming back from the incineration brought about by the sun. Number two, there is no heart that can be revived to pump fresh blood again. Not only that, but there is no digestive system of any kind either, so how would a revived vampire feed himself now?

The Bottom Line: Daybreakers is a fairly high-octane tale of life, death, love, and hate and the fast pace will keep you entertained, but when the dust settles and the credits start to roll you realize that you've been conned. Hopefully, given the finale, there'll never be a sequel...

Grade: 6

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