Daybreakers (2009/Liosngate Blu-ray) + True
Blood – Season Two (HBO DVD Set)
Picture:
B/B- Sound: B/B- Extras: C+/B- Film: C+ Episodes: B-
So many
vampire projects are being made, it should be a golden era for them, but most
are very bad and will be forgotten. Of
the standouts, some will endure and others will be curios that people will
still talk about for their ambition. We
now compare two such examples and why they succeeded or failed. They also have something in common: both offer near future societies where
vampires exist in the mainstream, need artificial blood to not be killer
predators, add another genre in the mix and those societies will not be able to
hold the peace for long.
If you
have not heard of the hit HBO series True
Blood, here is our coverage of the First
Season at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/8549/True+Blood+%E2%80%93+The+Comp
The Complete Second Season is on par with the first and has
managed to hold together the smart, intelligent storylines and character
development Creator Alan Ball and company have established. Here, elements of The Western are added as
well as they had been in Katherine Bigelow’s Near Dark and Robert Rodriguez’s From Dusk Till Dawn, but has the luxury of an entire TV series to
let the two meld in interesting, subtle ways.
I still want to see how this show is going to play out in the long run,
but as compared to so many such shows in the genre (vampires or not) that have
not lasted (Fallen, Haunted) or some that somehow survived
(Supernatural), this is one of the
best of the last 30 years of not achieving the highs of The X-Files.
Michael
and Peter Spierig’s Daybreakers
(2009) in fairness to them is only here in its R-rated edition and does seem
short at 98 minutes, especially as you watch, you realize this is a cut-down
film. Repeating I Am Legend (the book, all three official film versions and endless
imitators) was not a good idea and upping the Science Fiction angle (it takes
place in 2019) only so wise, but to then throw in action sequences that do not
gel and to have an ending that does not ring true makes what should have been
at least a fun film a disappointment.
With a great lead cast that includes Ethan Hawke (the film is more like Gattica than it ought to be), Willem
Dafoe (who played the original Nosferatu (et al) in Shadow Of The Vampire) and Sam Neill (the adult Son of Satan in Omen III - The Final Conflict among
other genre works, like the superior Event
Horizon) is smart casting and they are all good here.
Unfortunately
in this version, it all seems by-the-numbers and the effects nothing too
special, though the look of some scenes and set-ups are not bad. I will reserve judgment on the film overall
until I see the uncut version reportedly issued in the U.K., but it is too
derivative and flat as it stands in the version issued here.
The 1080p
1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image on Daybreakers
is a shoot mostly in High Definition video with some Super 35mm filming, but
the majority HD shoot is too soft too often throughout with fine details an
issue and some digital effects also degrade the image and look fake. Director of Photography Ben Nott (see See No Evil (2006) elsewhere on this
site) tries to give this a good look, but only makes it half way. The anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 on True is as nice, clean and clear as the
last DVD set and once again, we expect the Blu-ray would be better.
The DTS-HD
Master Audio (MA) lossless 7.1 on mix on Daybreakers
may not have the best or richest soundfield you would want (the first Blade has nothing to worry about), but
it is one of the most naturalistic soundfields on a 7.1 mix we have heard to
date, to its credit. True again has a Dolby Digital 5.1 mix
at best, but it is an active one and we can only imagine how much better this
would sound lossless.
Extras on both include audio commentaries (for True on select shows), while Daybreakers
adds a Poster Art Gallery, Theatrical Trailer, BD Live, BD Touch, Bonusview and
Metamenu interactive features, a Making
Of featurette, Digital Copy for PC and PC portable devices and The Spierig
Brothers’ short film The Big Picture. True
adds The Vampire Report: Special Edition
and Fellowship Of The Sun: Reflections
Of Light featurette.
-
Nicholas Sheffo
