I just suffered through the Ethan Hawke led miserable viewing experience that is Daybreakers (of my own volition so I really only have myself to blame)... and I feel terrible. What could have been a really awesome exploration into human abuse and power relationships between the Haves and Have-Nots using friggin vampires, simply turned into a rip-off of Blade 2 with Dr. Grant from Jurassic Park. The premise is this - vampires have taken over society, living as we do, and for blood they have been forced to harvest humans - but uh oh, someone forgot to have the foresight to entice these humans to make baby humans, so the blood's running out. Apparently, when vampires don't have blood for a few weeks they turn into mutant-version of vampires a la Blade 2 who hate normal vampires and want to kill them (cue fight sequences). Anyway, this turns into a whole storyline with Willem Dafoe where Ethan Hawke helps a band of humans publicize a solution that will turn everyone human again, didn't much care for that part of the plot... Spoiler Alert, the cure is the sun. Yeah, that big star that keeps us warm. So stupid. There are so many plot flaws and things that don't make sense, it's not even worth it to get into them. Also, who the hell are the Speirig Brothers (apparently the directors of this "movie")??? They're certainly no Wachowskis.... or Coens... or even Afflecks. Yeah, Afflecks.
Furthermore, everyone in this film smokes. Kids, Ethan, everyone. Because they're not human they get to ignore the Surgeon General? I dunno, I guess it passes standards for depicting smoking in films because the characters are vampires, but kids love vampires. Ever heard of a little phenomenon called Twilight? Every kid in America has. Congratulations Joe Camel, you found your loophole - light up children, smoking hasn't affected my lung capacity at all so I'm sure you'll be fine.
I guess I was disappointed because it wasn't the movie I wanted to see. It sounded like such a cool idea, a society run by vampires where humans have become the 'food' supply, supply being the operative word. The idea of humans being a commodity is a reality, and it would have been cool to see vampires used as a metaphor for controling entities. Whatever, maybe I'll make that movie... one day. One day.
