Byzantium Review

*Promotional Widescreen Poster for the movie*

Ah yes, Byzantium, the ancient Greek city...no, the hotel serving as a brothel for two immortal vampire women in modern day England. I mean we are talking about vampires here right? So this movie seeks to be yet another original approach to the much fatigued vampire genre of the now. Fortunately for us, it does manage to give enough reason to watch it's thin, but interesting premise unfold.

WARNING: This review may contain some spoilers as they may be essential to giving a good opinion on the film.

Elenor, played by Saoirse Ronan and Clara, played by Gemma Arterton lead the film as a duo of wondering cursed trying to stick below the radar long enough to find a place to call home. They eventually settle in with a sympathetic and lonely individual known as Noel, who let's them stay with him at his recently inherited Byzantium hotel which Clara uses to rescue women working the streets. The film has a very melancholy atmosphere, and despite an early decapitation, doesn't offer up much gore. Rather, the film settles into a tranquil yet unique way of telling it's vampire mythos. 

In this world, Vampires are a brotherhood, with few existing, and both Elenor and Clara are the only female vampires they've ever known in the hundreds of years they'd been around. They can be out in the sun, and they don't need  to bite on the neck to feed. Elenor always drains her victims using her thumb nail which grows long enough to piece a vein before the kill. Her victims are always elderly, and they always seem to have known her. The most interesting parts of the film are her slow reveals of their tormented past as vampires and victims themselves. Clara who eventually reveals to us that she is Elenor's mother, has a more aggressive angle throughout the film, and desperately clings onto whatever little humanity she still has while consistently robbing herself of it ever step of the way. The main threat throughout the whole movie is the brotherhood gaining ground and closing in on their whereabouts, which, although it should be the films primary focus, never reaches the level of interest that the rest of what the film indulges does.

My biggest gripe with this film stems from some of the decisions it makes throughout it's reasonable length. Caleb Laundry Jones character, Frank, plays Ronan's love interest, and he couldn't be a worse match. If the goal was to keep the love about the purity of it's notion, then one not need worry about the attraction between the two, but their interests in each other end up feeling more like a pushed romance than a natural growing of feelings. Elenor confides in Frank after she finds out about his terminal illness. His body cannot produce coagulants, and his leukemia will eventually kill him. Opposites attract, yet desperation equals out.

Elenor tells Frank she is a vampire out of assumed love, and Frank, desires an immortal life like hers. Gemma's character had a very victimized past where she was subjected to the cruelty of man, only to find in her immortality that her feelings towards everything have not lessened and providing a better life for her daughter never seems to come since she fails to hold herself to any higher standards.

It all makes sense why she is where she is, but the movie decides not to pay too much attention or offer many consequences for all the wrong she does, instead justifying all her actions through her love for her daughter, and her deserving freedom due to her past. The films ending would've made more sense if she paid the price for stealing her immortality in the first place, but rather offers up a saving grace through her oldest love interest at the last second, who predictably saves her from death. This feels all too familiar, and although leading to a happier ending, can't help but make you feel that life will continue for everyone involved in the film with little positive growth.

The way that human's become vampires in this film is unique to the idea, in which they go to a sacred temple high upon some mountains and are killed by an unnamed entity which grants them eternal life after they have surrendered their current one. This is perhaps the coolest thing about the film. It's never answered as to where it all comes from, and the movie is better off because of that. Byzantium enjoys trying to give you hints of where everything is going throughout the films length, but is mostly predictable without any assistance. This is where the temple is a welcome change up. The whole mythology of vampires being birthed from a singular controlled source gives the movie an edge over most other current vampire lore, and with Neil Jordan's

track record of undead films, this one is a decent addition. I grew up on Interview with the Vampire, which is perhaps the best vampire movie I've seen, but also the most difficult to watch with a high amount of blood, gore, and sad occurrences. So, Byzantium was an interesting change of pace when compared, seeing as it plays it much more safe.

In some regards, the movie feels very unfinished, like it could go much further than it does. Yet, that could just be the current state of the movie industry, and it's overly long summer films and Oscar nominated motion pictures clouding perception of these smaller, more niche crowd offerings. Byzantium isn't the best movie out there to watch right now, but it's not a film you'll regret watching. It's recommended viewing for any vampire nut, and perhaps a good gateway film into the darker world of vampire movies if your still just a Twilight kind of fan. I don't really agree with the casting of Gemma or Caleb, and I don't understand why Gemma has been in so many movies lately, but Saoirse is a force in this film, and the whole concept behind the vampire mythology in their world is a pleasantly different undead outing in today's very undead saturated market.

Check out the Byzantium trailer provided in the link below!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zu2cW7AhO8

Review Score Card:                                                                                                                      

Storyline:            Barley there, mostly about the atmosphere and mythology.

Charatcers:         Not many that are likable, a bit miscast, but decent for a vampire film.

Pacing:               Doesn't drag much, feel like a good length and good flow to the film.

Interest Level:      It's hard not to be engaged by the characters, but caring for them is another story.

Overall:             7 out of 10 - A decent watch for the mythology; movie falls well short of                                  greatness.