Post by Return of the Thin Olive Duke on Aug 11, 2016 1:11:33 GMT -5
30 Days of Night
Dir. David Slade
Premiered October 19, 2007
A couple weeks ago, Minnie confided in me that she couldn’t imagine witches being scary. How could they be? She had never known a media landscape that made portrayed them as serious horror villains.
I feel the same way about vampires. As a media concept, vampires are quite new, and the rules are still being written; unfortunately I had the luck to grow up in an era when they weren’t scary. Even before Twilight, vampires were basically immortal, urbane gentlemen who liked on occasion to drink human blood. What was the big deal?
Luckily, 30 Days of Night was here to set me straight.
Eben Oleson (Josh Hartnett) is the sheriff of Barrow, Alaska, the northernmost city in the United States. Located far above the Arctic Circle, the boreal winter enshrouds the town in a month of darkness– making it the ideal pray for a roving band of vampires who arrive by ship, and whose coming is announced by a rambling madman (Ben Foster). In the course of events, Eben is reunited with his estranged wife Stella (Melissa George), a fire marshall who’s stranded in town due to the darkness. As the vampires close in on the town, Eben and Stella join forces with a precarious group of survivors as they wait for the sun to rise once more.
Based on a comic book from 2002, 30 Days of Night is a textbook example of how to reinvigorate a classic monster that’s lost its edge. It probably would’ve succeeded too, if the picture itself wasn’t so cheap-looking. For a film that revolves around darkness, it’s frustratingly overlit, making everything look like a soundstage despite having been filmed on location. The design of the vampires is questionable; all have sharp teeth, claws, and rodentlike black eyes, but some mysteriously resemble the victims of overzealous face lifts.
The film’s buildup is terrific, with a standout performance from Ben Foster, and Josh Hartnett seems way more comfortable in genre pieces than he ever did as a leading man (about which more below), but 30 Days of Night, more than any other film of 2007, fulfills its potential on paper while squandering it with a complete lack of style.
Sign This Was Made in 2007
Marijuana is still illegal in Alaska; Eben’s nana hiding an illegal grow operation.
Additional Notes
Every few years, Hollywood foists some leading man onto screen and it just doesn’t work out. Often, he’s just a pretty face or a buff body. Sometimes, though, he’s a decent character actor who’s just too good-looking for his own good, and gets cast in unsuitable roles. I believe Josh Hartnett is the latter.
Next Time: Gone Baby Gone
Dir. David Slade
Premiered October 19, 2007
A couple weeks ago, Minnie confided in me that she couldn’t imagine witches being scary. How could they be? She had never known a media landscape that made portrayed them as serious horror villains.
I feel the same way about vampires. As a media concept, vampires are quite new, and the rules are still being written; unfortunately I had the luck to grow up in an era when they weren’t scary. Even before Twilight, vampires were basically immortal, urbane gentlemen who liked on occasion to drink human blood. What was the big deal?
Luckily, 30 Days of Night was here to set me straight.
Eben Oleson (Josh Hartnett) is the sheriff of Barrow, Alaska, the northernmost city in the United States. Located far above the Arctic Circle, the boreal winter enshrouds the town in a month of darkness– making it the ideal pray for a roving band of vampires who arrive by ship, and whose coming is announced by a rambling madman (Ben Foster). In the course of events, Eben is reunited with his estranged wife Stella (Melissa George), a fire marshall who’s stranded in town due to the darkness. As the vampires close in on the town, Eben and Stella join forces with a precarious group of survivors as they wait for the sun to rise once more.
Based on a comic book from 2002, 30 Days of Night is a textbook example of how to reinvigorate a classic monster that’s lost its edge. It probably would’ve succeeded too, if the picture itself wasn’t so cheap-looking. For a film that revolves around darkness, it’s frustratingly overlit, making everything look like a soundstage despite having been filmed on location. The design of the vampires is questionable; all have sharp teeth, claws, and rodentlike black eyes, but some mysteriously resemble the victims of overzealous face lifts.
The film’s buildup is terrific, with a standout performance from Ben Foster, and Josh Hartnett seems way more comfortable in genre pieces than he ever did as a leading man (about which more below), but 30 Days of Night, more than any other film of 2007, fulfills its potential on paper while squandering it with a complete lack of style.
Sign This Was Made in 2007
Marijuana is still illegal in Alaska; Eben’s nana hiding an illegal grow operation.
Additional Notes
Every few years, Hollywood foists some leading man onto screen and it just doesn’t work out. Often, he’s just a pretty face or a buff body. Sometimes, though, he’s a decent character actor who’s just too good-looking for his own good, and gets cast in unsuitable roles. I believe Josh Hartnett is the latter.
Next Time: Gone Baby Gone
