Daybreakers

We only need to look at the Twilight saga (a teenager torn in her love between necrophilia and bestiality) to see what’s wrong with vampire flicks these days. As a fluffy teen romance movie with vampires, there’s no real horror. If you really want a vampire flick with just the true, originally (Ossenfelder, Rymer or Bram Stoker versions) intended fear of vampires, you’ll have a world full of them in Daybreakers. Not only that but you get a political undertone to boot in this film. As a bonus no one in this film falls in love with werewolves, or are you left wondering, "if these vampires are immortal, and they can live forever and go anywhere they want, why would they waste their time going to high school?" No, none of that, instead these vampires come complete with fangs, fear of sunlight, a need to feed, and even possess the ability to morph into gigantic bats.
In the near future, all of humanity will turn into vampires. And unlike the bloodsuckers in Twilight, these vampires must feed on human blood, and only human blood. Of course, the end of the world as we know it is about to happen when human beings are hunted to extinction. Without any blood to sustain them, the economy will tank, civilisation will collapse, and the vampires will all turn into feral giant bats. Scary!
When you zoom-in at what's really being told here, Daybreakers is actually a metaphor for the oil crisis worldwide in a worst case scenario. Like the oil corporations in the real world, Sam Neil’s pharmaceutical company races against time to develop alternate blood resources. Ethan Hawke plays the chief scientist who, when he finally does find a cure, the company head states that they don't want a cure, they want to compete! Oil companies don't want a cure or alternative sources of energy, or they are out of a job. It is the vampire company's greed that leads to their ultimate destruction (as the power struggles and fight for oil leads to war and ultimately as the film states, the world's destruction). It makes the case for global warming as well as the only cure to become human from vampire is the sun. The sun being the ultimate alternative or cure for dependency on oil (solar energy).

One critic stated that "This would be a really dreary, preachy allegory about corporate greed and monstrosity – and not a vampire flick at all – without Willem Dafoe, who saves the movie as The Dude with a Crossbow." Personally I think Dafoe is overrated, he comes across as overbearing, try hard and not an action hero. His work in Boondock Saints makes that cult classic an overrated piece of work and he ruined green goblin for me.

The Spierig brothers are more competent than most directors in this genre, and succeed in drawing out the horror and even metaphysical aspects of their vampire flick. That being said, to me, the film was mildly entertaining, a lot of stuff I saw in the preview (aside from the massive blood baths). I felt this way until the last 20 minutes, where the twist comes into play. Without spoiling it, let's just say that the sun isn't the only thing that can cure the vampires. This event made the movie for me, it engulfs a very strong conclusion to the film. It is a wild finish that left me more excited than the first half of the film which I thought was just so-so. I have yet to speak to someone that did NOT enjoy this film.

CONSENSUS:

Rotten Tomatoes give this move a 66% rating

Zoom In Analysis will AGREE with this rating. The film's allegory about oil seemed to be a bit overarching, and at times it seemed a bit low budget, but that did not hide the fact that it was oddly unique in a market full of way too many vampire movies. Not spectacular by any means but not a waste of my time either.