Neil Jordan’s BYZANTIUM Trailer Looks Like TWILIGHT For Smart People

Above is the trailer for Neil Jordan's Byzantium, his second big vampire statement after the now shockingly old Interview With the Vampire. This time, the two vampire girls who are in love with each other are played by Gemma Arterton and Saoirse Ronan.

There's so much stuff going on in this trailer, I kind of want to see the film just to make sense of it all. Vampire films, kind of like zombie films, are so ubiquitous that something really special needs to make it into the mix for a film to justify its own existence.

I'm not exactly sure what that is in this case. There are some obviously lush visuals, and the story appears to be pretty complex, which could be both a good and a bad thing. People have seen Byzantium already at various festivals, but word on the film has been mixed.

Here's a synopsis, which might help you decide for yourself if this one's for you:

Eleanor (Saoirse Ronan) is a precocious girl with a bent for storytelling. A natural introvert, her idea of a good time is to put pen to paper and reflect on her inner life. Her “sister” Clara (Gemma Arterton) is the complete opposite: extroverted and sexual, she struts around in stilettos and skin-tight garb, attracting hungry male gazes wherever she goes. Both carry secrets from deep in their shared past — all 200 years of it — which bubbles to the surface as Jordan wends his way through the twists and turns of the plot. It turns out that Clara was involved in a passionate love affair during the Napoleonic Wars, while at the same time Eleanor was abandoned as a child. In the present, both seek to preserve their secret from their unsuspecting new companions. Eleanor falls for a sweet young waiter (Caleb Landry Jones), while Clara settles on a homey, unsuspecting man (Daniel Mays) who has just come into an inheritance: the Byzantium Hotel, which has seen better days. The fun begins as Eleanor and Clara shack up in the hotel, feeding off their victims while attempting to stay one step ahead of their pursuers, who are hot on the duo’s trail after Clara rather violently disposes of a particularly seedy pickup.

See or don't see the film when it hits theaters June 28. I think I'll be there, though. If you could just rate films based solely on their chances for Gemma Arterton cleavage, this would obviously be a no-brainer.