Review of Byzantium (2013) by Florentin S — 07 Jun 2013

There's a fair amount of curiosity value attached to Byzantium. It's a home grown vampire movie from director Neil Jordan, that promises to stray very far from the Hollywoodized version of vamps as set up in Twilight, and from those in fine vampire movies like 30 Day's of Night. And to that an unlikely pairing in Gemma Arterton and Saoirse Ronan, with support from Sam Riley, all three fine actors and there's the potential for something radically different here.

Um, it is different, that, at least, can be said. Anyone familiar with Jordans previous work would have been a fool to go in expecting fangs and bursting into flames by sunlight. Vampirism in this film is treated like a cure for immediate ailments but one which comes with a heavy curse. It's not twinkling in meadows ever after.

Arterton and Ronan are the travelling vampires who wash up in Hastings where Ronan finds a forbidden attachment to local boy Caleb Landry Jones and an urge to unburden herself of the secret she and her sister share. Arterton isn't nearly as on form as she was in The Disappearance of Alice Creed which is a shame as she's proved that she has a range as an actress to take on difficult roles. Her Clara is bit too Kat Slater, you can't really buy the accent coming out of her mouth. Ronan's Eleanor is a stark contrast to Clara, quiet and withdrawn. For two such polar opposites the characters and the actresses work well together.

What they struggle with, at least for the first hour of Byzantium, is the tedium of the pace. It's easier to appreciate during the much sparkier second half, but at the time, the films first hour feels like a lot of hard work, almost to the point where you're feeling like nodding off.

The action does pick up though, largely with the introduction of Sam Riley's character and builds to suitably gripping climax, as well as taking in a novel concept on the idea of vampire creation that is much more refined than you would expect.

When it's done, Byzantium feels like an overlong TV pilot for a gritty BBC fantasy show. There are moments of compelling, kitchen sink style drama and while the ending may seem over the top in keeping with what precedes it, it's a good job it plays out the way it does as the film needs all the life it can after it's dreary beginnings.

This is enjoyable and certainly an interesting take on the vampire mythology.