Meh.
The deal-breakers in Daybreakers are the low-rent action sequences, splashy random gore, and cardboard characters.
I've been spoiled by thirty years of action flicks that dish up first-rate fight choreography, even if they don't have anything else to offer at all, so I just can't handle a film that cheaps out on the action as well as the script. This film has the action equivalent of foam rocks. I expected to see a boom mic dip into the frame at any time.
And we all expect a little gore in a vampire movie, but the gore in Daybreakers is absurdly exaggerated and outta nowhere. Yes, there is a Gattaca-esquire dignity to the film — but it is ruined at regular intervals by hosing the camera down with blood. Spraying blood around seem at odds with the otherwise earnest sci-fi scenario that inspired the film. I know that sci-fi has often played nicely with horror, but this was a failed attempt to merge the genres.
The characters are all completely forgettable: I won't remember anything about any of them by the middle of next week. At first I thought I suppose be impressed that the lady lead wasn't just a sex object, but she wasn't anything else either. Despite a bunch of screen time, she mostly just stood around and looked worried, about as blah a character as I can imagine.
The relationships between the characters are an even bigger yawn. The closest thing to an interesting relationship is the brother thing, but even that is barely there. There's just ... nothing.
The deal-breakers in Daybreakers are the low-rent action sequences, splashy random gore, and cardboard characters.
I've been spoiled by thirty years of action flicks that dish up first-rate fight choreography, even if they don't have anything else to offer at all, so I just can't handle a film that cheaps out on the action as well as the script. This film has the action equivalent of foam rocks. I expected to see a boom mic dip into the frame at any time.
And we all expect a little gore in a vampire movie, but the gore in Daybreakers is absurdly exaggerated and outta nowhere. Yes, there is a Gattaca-esquire dignity to the film — but it is ruined at regular intervals by hosing the camera down with blood. Spraying blood around seem at odds with the otherwise earnest sci-fi scenario that inspired the film. I know that sci-fi has often played nicely with horror, but this was a failed attempt to merge the genres.
The characters are all completely forgettable: I won't remember anything about any of them by the middle of next week. At first I thought I suppose be impressed that the lady lead wasn't just a sex object, but she wasn't anything else either. Despite a bunch of screen time, she mostly just stood around and looked worried, about as blah a character as I can imagine.
The relationships between the characters are an even bigger yawn. The closest thing to an interesting relationship is the brother thing, but even that is barely there. There's just ... nothing.