It's a Bloody movie but also a Bloody movie

Rating: 5/10 (14 February 2008)

This movie is hugely entertaining, great special effects, cool "new" looking vampires, fantastically gory but the plot, well, that's the only thing absent in this movie... so 10 for the Vampires 0 for the plot = 5
What was good?
The location, it has been proved in movies like "The Thing" or "Shinning" that snowy landscape enhance the feeling of isolation. So the careful set-up, airport closing, 3/4 of the population leaving etc...plays beautifully to install the right mood.
The Vampires themselves are quite cool, purists will complain about the teeth thing, and I can see their point, but all in all they look plain evil, not quite human, but not Nosferatu alike either. Quite liked the guttural language that sounds like an old middle eastern dialect. The strength and agility is there, the blood thirst is there, the contamination by blood/bite is there, so yes they are Vampire. Also to make them even less human (while human looking) they are just dressed in summer dress or suits and still look impervious to the bone-freezing cold.
The gore, well I have to say that it's hard to make a movie that is gory but stays scary. The gore also gives that bestial aspect to the vampires that keeps the viewer indecisive on whether they are more human or more bestial. And probably the most convincing beheading I have ever seen on screen (not to count the one I do in my back garden)
The special effects are very decent and not overdone, that contribute to the cool aspect of the vampires.
What's not good?
The Vampires start the movie as a cunning, well organised deadly killing machine and end up little less than a bunch of savage gathered together by a pack leader. I would like to understand why after methodically making sure that no communication means were left (mobile phone burnt, sledge dogs slaughtered, internet/radio/phone station destroyed and helicopter in pieces), that the power station is neutralised (within the first few hours of the first day) do they become so stupid (aside for justifying the title). They use baits to find out survivors, they obviously kept a few alive as snacks too, but why? Why after being obviously aware of the start of the 30 days of night does it take them 19 days and a few hours to raze the town to burning cinders? Why did they not, after the first 24hours searched systematically each house and then burn them to find hiding survivors?
Granted they are Vampires, they don't feel bullets much (or so it seems), but they are not impossible to kill (shotgun to the head, beheading etc...) why is there is only one fire axe available in the movie, no chainsaw either...just one axe...lame...
The time span, this is the worst let down of the movie because it kills the atmosphere built at the start of the movie, and barely explained how the survivors manage to sneak and get food, water and other 1st supplies. It's just jumps from day 1 to 7 to 27 and then last day it says how little ideas the writer had for the plot. The time span ads nothing to the plot, it doesn't really re-enforced the sense of survival because the gaps are too large, nor does it gives a feeling of hope as they close to the return of the sun.
The snow, well it's beautiful but had the very bad habit of leaving tracks that could be used by the vampires to follow the survivors Where the Hell have the remaining vampire gone a few hours before sunset in a burning city?
What could have been done to make the movie better?
Drop the 30 days of night idea and replace it by a rare long sun eclipse or something like that, this would have probably saved the movie as the survival and struggle would have been for a few days and there would have been no need to explain the painful inactivity of the vampires.
Not necessarily kill the entire city in the first few hours of the first day, this would also have given the survivors with more casualties for the the following days.
Trying to kills the vampires traditional ways (holywater from the church, wooden stick in the heart...) only to find this doesn't work
May be put some more weapons at the disposal of the survivors, how about taking the UV bulbs and fixing them on lamp torch? That would have created some cool weapon for little cost.
Find another non cheesy ending.
So as you can see, it's a decent movie let down by the plot (as many are), watch it if you like vampires without being a purist, watch it, just make sure you don't spend too much money on it.