Back in the early-to-mid-2000s, Josh Hartnett was one of the hottest actors in Hollywood. Like Colin Farrell, he was on every major studio’s A-list and considered for some of the biggest roles there could be. For instance, as the title character in Bryan Singer’s Superman Returns and as Batman in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Trilogy. But those weren’t what Hartnett wanted for his career at the time, and he passed on the opportunities. He was offered the role of Superman twice and said no twice and, even though he met with Nolan before Batman Begins started shooting, Hartnett ultimately didn’t play Bruce Wayne (though he would work with Nolan later on Oppenheimer).
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The star of the fun and funny Fight or Flight wanted to play a wide variety of roles, not find himself pegged just as a single individual wearing a cape for a number of years and a number of movies. However, that’s not to say Hartnett has never led a film based on a comics property. He has, just once.
Which Cinematic Adaptation of a Graphic Novel Did Hartnett Lead?
While 2006’s Lucky Number Slevin and 2010’s Bunraku feel a bit like a graphic novel brought to life, it’s not. 30 Days of Night, however, is. It wasn’t the first time Hartnett had a role in a graphic novel adaptation (he had a brief role in the first and final scenes of Robert Rodriguez’s Sin City), but it was the first time he was front and center in one.
30 Days of Night is based on the 2004 three-issue miniseries by writer Steve Niles and artist Ben Templesmith. The second miniseries, 30 Days of Night: Dark Days, was later adapted as a direct-to-video sequel. Both 30 Days of Night and Dark Days were collected into trade paperbacks and were followed by 30 Days of Night: 2004 Annual, 30 Days of Night: Return to Barrow (2004, like the preceding books), 30 Days of Night: Bloodsucker Tales (2005), and seven more books released between 2006 and 2009.
But the first one’s the best, and easily the most adaptable as a film. And, thanks to a firm grip over atmosphere and a well-cast Hartnett, Melissa George, Ben Foster (who just about runs away with the whole movie), and Danny Huston, David Slade’s movie is arguably the best a 30 Days of Night movie could be.
What Helps 30 Days of Night Hold Up?
The film takes place in the small, isolated town of Barrow, Alaska. Coming up is its annual, month-long polar night, where you’ll need a flashlight and a map just to find your house. In other words, it’s perfect hunting season for a predator that can’t stand daylight — like a vampire.
And Barrow’s minuscule population is about to be marched on by a horde of the bloodsuckers. But first, they’re going to have to contend with a mysterious, disturbed stranger (Foster), who has sabotaged their communications system and their few means of transportation. What they don’t know is that the stranger is one of the vampire’s familiars, and he’s setting them all up for slaughter.
They find out soon enough, as Marlow (Huston) and his group soon arrive and start picking the townsfolk off one by one. All that’s standing between Barrow’s annihilation and the vampiric horde is its sheriff, Eben Oleson (Hartnett), and his wife, Stella (George). For Eben to emerge victorious, however, he might just need to become a vampire himself.
It’s the type of horror movie plot that allows for a certain rewatchability. We enjoy getting to know the residents of Barrow just as we enjoy seeing them try to survive. At the center of it is Hartnett, who brings a lot of relatable humanity and believable bravery to the role of Eben. Hartnett displays a lot of star power, no matter the size of the movie, and one of 30 Days of Night‘s charms is that it’s not trying to be a big movie. It’s a single-locale scarefest not unlike John Carpenter’s The Thing. It functions well as a horror film, as an action movie, and as a look at small-town life.
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Image courtesy of Warner
