recommended

People are voting emotionally.

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

With all of the big names such as Cuba Gooding jr, Omar Epps, and a few more Hollywood Heavy Hitters the movie omits racism, politics, and religion, while at the same time exposes how people feel about the government and health care, if you ask me, it introduced the Obama, Trump Era.

This 1993 movie is one of a long line of dystopian (also called "awful warning") stories. In this case one of the key ideas that make dystopias interesting--a fascist government using paranoia to keep the masses in line--is swamped by the romance between Cuba Gooding and Moira Kelly. Of course there is a place for love in such a story--remember Winston Smith and Julia in Nineteen Eight-Four--but in Daybreak the love story eventually overwhelms everything else, and ideas go out the window.The treatment of the disease that is supposedly rampant in this near-future world is ambiguous. No, the disease doesn't seem like AIDS, but it's unclear just what it is, how much of the population is afflicted by it, and whether or not it is really deadly. At times, you get the sense that the government invented the disease to spread fear among the people, but, then again, clearly some of the people in the movie are sick. It's all sort of confusing.Cuba Gooding's character is one-dimensional. At first he's very angry and refuses to have anything to do with Moira Kelly. Then, aw shucks, he is forced to admit he really loves her. Moira Kelly's character is semi-believable. To me, however, the really interesting character is that played by Martha Plimpton, who makes the character come alive and has a very interesting face in the bargain.Somewhere in this movie is a good idea that never manages to break free.

I thought this movie was great, and I think it should still be shown to teens today. The virus, an obvious AIDS parallel, striking paranoia and fear into the populace, and the reluctance of government to educate people on prevention, are themes I remember seeing in the real world when AIDS first came out. I also remember the suggestions of quarantines and somehow marking the infected as dangerous. The romantic aspect of the film was a bit off-subject, but then most subplots are, and I liked how Moira Kelly's character brought about the opportunity to explain details that otherwise might have been assumed "obvious" by characters, thus making the explanations seem forced and unnatural. I wish I owned this DVD, especially since actors tend to do better work before reaching star-status, and this is certainly an example of that.

Being what it is (a TV-movie), I was surprised by the excellent plot and deep characters portrayed by Daybreak. Though I'm a devoted Moira Kelly fan, I tend to view the strong side of traditional, socially critical science fiction as being the more important part in the enchantment of the film. A later movie with similar intent is Gattaca - both these handle the subject of being different in an intolerant society. But where Gattaca is cooler and more controlled, Daybreak is a bit more lightheaded and dramatic - an ounce of romance counters nicely the oozing intellectuality of the newer creation...