Josh Hartnett stars in “30 Days of Night,” a horror/action movie about a horde of vampires who invade Barrow, a small Alaskan town where it will be dark for 30 days. Hartnett plays Sheriff Eben Oleeson, who has been getting calls from the townspeople saying that their dogs had been brutally killed, and the cell phones of everyone in the town had gone missing.

A mysterious man, simply called “The Stranger” (Ben Foster), warns “that cold ain’t the weather, that’s death approaching.” To complicate things a bit further, Stella (Melissa George), Oleeson’s former lover and partner, has missed the last flight out of Barrow. Their history is not made too clear, but they must put aside their bitterness to work together and stop the group of vampires who are intent on enjoying their feast.

The movie has an awesome premise, but it falls a bit flat because of cheap scares and Hartnett’s acting. Hartnett has one of the best narrative voices ever. He has a flatness to his voice that lends it to that work, but he also has that voice when he is just talking. However, there is a point where his character takes a dramatic turn, and he almost makes up for the shortcomings.

The vampires are given little character development, but we are given a few scenes where they talk amongst themselves which hint at their past. It keeps the audience off guard, but knowing that there is something there may be more terrifying than what the actual reason is. Foster shines again as The Stranger. His character brings a dark shadow of foreboding to the film.

The biggest problem of the film is that it pushes Hartnett as an action star. When he is not doing the action sequences, he is good, but he just does not have the right level of appeal. He looks too clean-cut to play a rugged role for an extended period of time. George looks bored most of the time in her role as the sidekick.

It is not a bad film, but it could have done much better with a different male lead.