"Day Shift" is a new vampire hunting movie starring Jamie Foxx and Dave Franco. The movie tells the story of a blue collar dad trying to provide a better life for his young daughter. However, his routine job in San Fernando Valley pool cleaning is a disguise for his true income, hunting down and killing vampires as part of an International Union of Viper Hunters.It sounds like a fun idea, but can J.J. Perry bring it to life?
Jamie Foxx's opening scene in Day Shift is an action sequence that sees him shotgun blasting an old lady who turns to be a Vampire. It then leads into a nuts fight between the pair that is so much fun. I feel like the movie really has fun with this kind of rag-doll physics in its action scenes, making those sequences pop in a way that a lot of the Netflix action movies (or action blockbusters these days) don't. It's hard not to think of the old adage about how "action speaks louder than words" when watching a scene like this, and while there is certainly some truth to that, I think part of the reason "Day Shift" is so effective is because it knows how to use both action and dialogue to further the plot and character development. Jamie Foxx's villain, the vampire, is killed. His partner has a hilarious exchange about how he thought she was going "to turn into a bat, or something". These are the moments that make "Day Shift", a movie unlike any other.
Day Shift has the quality of a bad movie. It's so obvious what they were trying to do, and yet they failed so miserably. The acting is terrible, the dialogue is stilted, the plot is confusing. It was enjoyable, though. Maybe it's because it was vampire movies I love, or maybe it is because I just like bad movies. Day Shift was great. It's not a great movie, but it's a lot of fun. That's really all I want from a movie such as this.
Day Shift was a mixed film. On one hand, there is a lot of fun action and some fun characters (the brothers and Seth), but on the other hand the villain was horrible and there are a lot of mediocre characters. There were scenes that could have been added but they didn't. Bud's neighbor acts like they are close friends even though she was only given 3 minutes of screen-time prior to the final scene. This makes the characters who are better than others shine even more. Overall, it is a good movie. However, it could have been much better.
Snoop Dogg almost got lost in my thoughts. He is (blog post) great in Day Shift. He makes the movie worthwhile. His character is funny and he has great lines. More importantly, he just feels so natural in the part. It's as if he was made for the role.