Synopsis: In the year 2019, a plague has transformed most every human into vampires. Faced with a dwindling blood supply, the fractured dominant race plots their survival; meanwhile, a researcher (Ethan Hawke) works with a covert band of humans on a way to save humankind.OK so I'm sort of sick of vampires too thanks to the asses who did the whole Twilight series, but this is NOTHING like the Twilight films (thank heavens). This is closer to the mythology and feel of the Blade series or Underworld maybe. It stands on it's own too, with a pretty cool mythology that offers some different twists on the whole vampire thing than we've seen lately, yet still has the old "find the cure and save the world" bit going on. It's more of a dark sci-fi film really.
Expect a lot of action (mainly the last half hour), enough social satire and blood. Buckets of blood. Exploding vampires? You got 'em, every time one gets it through the heart. It's a pretty cool effect.
William DeFoe and Sam Neill are well cast and both great I thought. Ethan Hawke gets the majority of screen time and plays his role very well. I would have liked to have seen (a whole lot) more of Isabel Lucas as Neill's daughter, but that's just because she's an absolute knockout.
The film looks good too, with the cinematography and use of colors really eye-catching. It's sort of a grim world with a lot of gray and blasts of light and it looks sweet. The futurist world in which the vampires have been forced to live is pretty cool and creative. There are a lot of special effects and all are very nicely done with CGI. It's not overused as some of these films tend to do. Lots of good stunts too and even a great car chase. Like I said, it's part action film as well as an intelligent vampire flick.
It's not as cliche' filled as a lot of vampire movies, which is good, and these vamps don't take their shirts off and text their BFFs to meet in study hall, they devour people and rip them apart. Scary vampires? How novel.
It's a clever, fun film that should please most sci-fi fans.
7/10
