A well-made vampire movie, though it lacks depth

Rating: 8/10 (11 November 2007)

Whoever it was that said this was a zombie movie is insane. The characters even use the word "vampire" at one point. It's a freakin' vampire movie. That's why they're so fast and strong. Also, Eastern European, and with sharp teeth. Like, oh, I don't know... VAMPIRES!
Josh Hartnett does a really good job with his role, and the cinematography is really well done. There isn't a lot of depth of theme here - the closest the movie comes to any sort of self-reflection is a series of quips by the leader of the vampire clan that express some of their religious worldview - for example, "What can be broken, must be broken." The film suffers a bit from the fact that it is adapted from a serial comic book. Specifically, the story jumps ahead days at a time without any establishing of what has and hasn't happened in the interim.
The creative cinematography makes this a fun "monster-gore" movie, and the original premise makes it worth seeing. It's generally well-acted as well.