Day Shift
Director:
J. J. Perry
Year: 2022
Rating: 7.0
Not that the world
needs another vampire film, but this one was more an action film than a vampire
film. Replace the vampires with Russians or assassins and you have a John
Wick movie. Like the Wick films, it creates a parallel world of unionized
Vampire Hunters with rules to follow and organized vampires. The absurdity
of this generates some good humor along the way. It was directed by former
stuntman J.J. Perry in his debut who went on to direct another fun action
film, The Killers Game.
Jamie Foxx plays it completely straight
as a pool maintenance man who is in reality a vampire hunter. A broke one.
Killing vampires and collecting their fangs doesn't pay like it used to and
he got kicked out of the union for breaking too many rules. As an independent
vampire hunter, times are tough. In an enjoyable early scene he goes up against
a little old lady who he immediately blows away. And who instantly turns
into a vicious hard to kill contortionist vampire. When his ex wife (Meagan Good) tells him that
she has to move to Florida with their daughter for financial reasons, he
knows that he is going to have to kill loads of vampires quickly. He is helped
by fellow vampire hunters Snoop Dog, Scott Adkins and Steve Howey (High
Potential) and two turned pissed vampires Dave Franco and Natasha Liu Bordizzo
(Sabine in Ahsoka). A solid cast, a number of excellent action set pieces,
fine special effects but don't expect any scares or surprises. Fairly predictable
story that plays it safe.
