By Landon Graybill
Intro: Day Shift Review
Where to Stream It? Netflix
Starring: Jamie Foxx, Dave Franco, Snoop Dogg
Directed by: J. J. Perry
Was I naive to have high hopes for Day Shift? An action comedy starring Jamie Foxx where he hunts vampires, supported by Snoop Dogg and directed by a man who’s stunt credits include John Wick and Click? Unfortunately, yes, I was.
The film might satisfy some people’s thirst for action, but I felt familiar treads being worn down after the fight that starts the film. And if the most interesting aspects of this world are abandoned in the third act, I have to ask -if they’re not going to stay, then why should I?
A fun enough start
Day Shift opens with Bud (Foxx) breaking into a house and gunning down an old woman. Walls and hollow doors explode as she flies back. Moments later, her body contorts and she rises once more, her face having changed into a Snapchat filter of Morbius. That’s okay, I didn’t come for the make-up, I came for the vampire action.
Bud handles the vampire, with some genuinely gnarly bone crunching as he swings and slams this nimble old lady into various walls and objects, dispatching her and an associate vampire by beheading each.
After harvesting their canines, the movie shows us Bud’s struggle in that he must raise $10,000 to pay for his daughter's tuition and braces in seven days. If he doesn't, his ex-wife is taking their daughter with her to Florida. Now if you were paying attention to the inspired opening song choice of “California Love”, you might be able to guess where they currently live.
Pretty early on the movie introduces us to Snoop Dogg. No, I don’t remember the character’s name and it's frankly ridiculous if he's expected to be remembered as anything other than Snoop Dogg when he is smoking a blunt from the first time we see him. He plays a fellow vampire hunter who rocks a sick cowboy aesthetic, drops a few lines to progress the plot, and isn't seen again until the third act.
Around this same time, Bud is paired with a union rep to oversee his activities, Seth (played by Dave Franco). He’s one of these nerdy pacifist types that the rugged individualist hunter Bud can comedically bounce off of. For the most part I would say this is one of the few areas of the movie that worked for me.
Biting off more than it can chew
Day Shift clocks in at nearly two hours, and felt that long.
The action is novel at first, but the vampires don’t feel particularly developed as enemies. Nor do they ever seem to really be a threat to our human protagonists who are armed with shotguns and knives. The vampires fight like circus contortionists, but are shown to be inconsistently strong. They can toss humans with ease in one moment, and then be pinned down with one arm in the next. I mean, really, there is only one visible vampire bite in the whole movie!
They’re treated more like pests, with a whole union having been developed around the business of eradicating them and harvesting their teeth. Really the bureaucracy of the union in this movie that Bud has to contend with gives him more trouble than any vampire.
The first act has some fun ideas with vampire teeth being treated as rare jewels, and the different types of vampires being set up as having significance, only to come to nothing. Instead it chooses to focus on this boring main villain vampire who is trying to take over the Valley, and it’s this type of generic existential threat that bogs down the fun narratives the movie had going for itself.
Final Thoughts: Day Shift Review
Ironically, Day Shift feels like work to finish. The best action scene comes halfway through. Afterwards, I lost interest and would expect others to as well.
It felt like it would work much better with a shorter runtime, perhaps even being cut down into a short film with less filler in between the set pieces and really letting the action shine.
What did you think of my Day Shift review? Let me know if you wanted more vampire stabbing action or if you would have liked to see the world expanded upon in the comment section below!
