‘Day Shift’ a hot mess

Film Review
Tinashe Kusema

“WITH great power comes great responsibility.”

As far as iconic movie lines go, it does not get any better than the famed words of Uncle Ben, and most recently Marissa Tomei’s Aunt May, from the “Spiderman” franchise.

I mean, these words are right up there with famous quotes like “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn” from 1939’s “Gone with the Wind”, “I’m going to make him an offer he can’t refuse” from “The Godfather” and “Show me the money” from the 1996 classic “Jerry Maguire”.

While the annals of movie history are littered with many more quotable quotes, it is Uncle Ben’s final words that I try to live by in this column.

I will try to be as honest and objective as I can be.

There are those days that I like to shake things up and have a little fun. While some may call it “playing devil’s advocate”, I mostly do it to kill the monotony that comes with doing the same thing week in, week out.

And today is one of those days.

Since its release on August 12, “Day Shift” has been receiving a lot of praise from both critics and moviegoers alike. Many have singled out Jamie Foxx’s charismatic and almost flawless performance, while others have gone to town about the film’s stellar action and the comedic performance of Dave Franco.

For a film that I personally thought to be a hot mess, I found it weird that it is currently third on Netflix’s top movies of the year, behind “Look Both Ways” and “Until: The Girlfriend who didn’t Exist”.

That “The Gray Man” was seventh was an insult, but that is neither here nor there.

Before we get into the nitty-gritties of the review, here is a summary of the Netflix vampire movie.

The film follows Bud Jablonski (Foxx), an out-of-work vampire hunter, who masquerades as a pool cleaner as he goes around killing these night creatures and trades their teeth for a quick buck. When he finds out that his wife, Jocelyn (Meagan Good) wants to sell their house and move to Florida with their daughter Paige (Zion Broadnax), Bud sets out to earn US$10 000 which is the amount that would clear their family debts and pay for his daughter’s school tuition.

Bud reaches out to close friend Big John Elliot (Snoop Dogg) and asks him to facilitate his return to the union.

Apparently, the fangs of a vampire are so high on demand that a union of vampire hunters has since been formed and Bud was once a member.

As a sub-plot, the mother of a vampire that Bud killed, Audrey San Fernando (Karla Souza), decides that she wants retribution and sets out on her own man-hunt for the film’s protagonist. What ensues is a game of cat-and-mouse between Fernando and the vampire hunter, all the while Bud has to blood a new recruit by the name of Seth (Franco).

J.J Perry marks his directorial debut and uses his vast martial arts background to stamp his authority on the film’s action scenes.

High marks there.

Franco and Foxx, both credible comedians by their own rights, steer the film with their performance and great chemistry.

The plot is sound and is only let down by the lack of character development for anyone not named Franco or Foxx.

However, my criticism goes deeper than just the lack of development of the film characters.

Continuity is the principle of making sure that all details in a film or television show are consistent from shot-to-shot and from scene to scene. “Day Shift” fails in this regard, especially from a storytelling perspective.

For instance, we are introduced to two throwaway characters in the Nazarian brothers, Mike (Steve Howey) and Diran (Scott Adkins), who star in one of the film’s best action scenes and sequences as they plow through a vampire hive.

The brothers have a friendly and competitive rivalry with Bud and decide to work together albeit temporarily.

However, during the movie’s climactic fight scene, the two characters are completely ignored as Bud goes on a rescue mission to retrieve his wife and child from an army of vampires.

Instead, he decides to enlist the help of a newly-minted vampire (Seth) and a character we had only seen once in a throwaway scene during the film’s second act.

Franco’s character Seth goes from new recruit to vampire slaying fighter once bitten, and the drastic change is never explained or mentioned.

This is just the tip of the iceberg of the many inconsistencies in the movie. Any attempts to further list them will probably angle towards spoiler territory.

The film also has a very big tone problem, as it goes from action-flick to vampire horror and buddy comedy at every turn.

This confuses the audience as they do not know whether to enjoy, be scared or laugh, or do all three at the same time.

Overall, “Day Shift” is one of those films one is likely to watch and quickly forget soon after.

It is a hot mess, and not in a fun way.