Daybreakers

The potential to be a great event in the vampire movie genre gets flushed down the drain of a dumb action flick. The creators have no idea what’s important for their story or what they should avoid like the plague. (14.03.2010)

Slightly undercooked, but edible nonetheless. Even though I liked it, it’s a pity that it’s not nearly as good and interesting as it could be. That originally conceived world could be the setting for a far more untraditional story. The directorial duo did a good job, but there are a few weak spots (e.g. the chained anaemic, that was a wasted scene) and the inexperience of the creators is evident especially in the dialogues, which consist solely of schematic rejoinders, and are the only thing that I felt was truly bad. I reckon it deserves 70%. (31.01.2010)

It takes quite the effort to turn such a promising premise into such an empty spectacle. The Spierig brothers do not subordinate their script to a thoughtful world, but rather to the average viewer, and thus we are bombarded with car collisions, commando ambushes, and crossbow fire. It feels like a punch to the gut, as they do a pretty decent job with emotions and have good actors on hand. Unfortunately, my interest was stuck with the trailer, where the essentials happened and Placebo played in the background. Visually, the brothers offer only darkened camera filters. And the rest? Well, it’s neither boring nor stupid, but somehow just... uninteresting. 2 ½. (10.02.2010)

A catchy and logical world that works to the smallest detail. A plot that looks at the theme of vampires slightly from the other side. Great actors. Good action. Interesting ideas. Not like that Twilighthogwash. It falls only a fraction of an inch short of five stars. (01.05.2010)

Very unoriginal. You can see the smaller budget, the occasional visual B-movie quality and the lack of a strong atmosphere. A few bloody shots and an interesting idea can't save it from being subpar, as the whole thing comes across as strongly unremarkable. Perhaps, those few interesting directing ideas and camera tricks might stick in your memory and salvage it. A little too little for such a cast and great ambitions. (14.08.2010)

I'll round up three and a half stars mainly for the devilishly attractive idea (there is power in simplicity), the decently elaborated world (for an hour and a half long film, it's definitely decent) and Sam Neill. I enjoyed watching Daybreakers very much, the action was sufficiently action-packed, the was very little horror, but it was there, the idea (or point, if you like) was there in the end and it was not in vain... A decent B.__P.S. And those Dafoe cars! (01.09.2012)

Interesting and pretty scenes against the backdrop of an interestingly rendered world clash with a B-grade story, utterly unbelievably bland acting performances, and virtually zero gradation. I certainly wasn't as offended as my fellow moviegoers, but I wasn't thrilled with it. Because all it needed was a little bit of that directorial craft, a complete change of composer (find me a more boring soundtrack) and it could have really been a movie on the level of the final scene. Thumbs up for that final and well shot gorefest. (16.03.2010)