Daybreakers – A vámpírok kora

Egy nagy műfaji esemény lehetősége, amit egy buta B-kategóriás akciófilmmel húztak le. Az alkotóknak fogalmuk sincs arról, hogy mi az, ami a történetük szempontjából lényeges, és mit kellene nagy ívben elkerülniük. (2010.03.14)

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. (2010.02.10)

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%. (2010.01.31)

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. (2010.08.14)

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! (2012.09.01)