REVIEW: DAY SHIFT

3.5/5

Breaking Day.

114 Mins. Starring: Jamie Foxx, Dave Franco, Natasha Liu Bordizzo, Meagan Good, Karla Souza, Steve Howey, Scott Adkins, Eric Lange, Peter Stormare & Snoop Dogg. Director: J.J. Perry. 

All the streets are silent. "Except when Jamie Foxx's got a f#####g shotgun!" Once upon a time on the other side of Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. 'Sleepless' like the time he ran up cars in a parking lot with a blunderbluss like 'Baby Driver', as the Texan needled crooks like Seattle. Now, straight out the Foxxhole, Jamie's working the 'Day Shift'. Which is not a prequel to a biopic about The Commodores moving on from Lionel Richie. But the Oscar winner's latest project with Netflix (can a comedy special from the funnyman with a hilarious Dave Chappelle impression, please stand-up in a sheriff's hat?). One that sees him play a vampire hunter with guns for their roses and maybe even an Easter Egg to one of his albums amongst all the action. Or it could just be a flower shop. Perhaps I've had one too man drinks. Walking tall amongst the dead alongside Snoop Dogg's terminating mini-gun, stetson spinning Big John, complete with his old moves from 'Def Jam Vendetta' . We are fun fang-filled, all the way in. Even if critics want to put this in the coffin as this vamped up flick is getting it in the neck. But what Netflix movie doesn't in this 'Spiderhead' age, were even Avengers can't marvel? From 'The Grey Man' to 'The Man From Toronto' and of course the electric Electro villain's own superhero 'Project Power' from this time, last year. No matter what they say though, when it comes to this streaming service whose shows are in more successful season, it's still all enjoyable fare and enough bang for your subscription buck. Especially in this post-summer blockbuster season were you will find more successful popcorn movies-aside from Foxx's taxi 'Collateral' Tom Cruise's 'Maverick' 'Top Gun' sequel-in the 'Prey' of the new home cinema across the streams. This graveyard shift catches on like the Brad Pitt Shinkansen snapshot action of 'Bullet Train' that definitely takes points from the best zombie movie amongst hordes, South Korea's 'Train To Busan', straight from a 'Seoul Station' before the 'Peninsula'. Former tooth-cracking 'Fight Club' stuntman for Pitt, David Leitch directed that one. Along with 'Deadpool 2', the world's best cameo and the 'John Wick' films. Now another stuntman from those chapters who knows a thing or two fists about action choreography makes his directing debut here. And J.J. Perry knows what's at stake too. Straight to the heart. 

Just watch what they do in these shadows. 'The Waterboy' this is not, as Jamie Foxx fishes a rodent out from the aftermath of a pool party. Playing possum though, he soon trades fish nets (no, not those. This isn't the 'Rocky Horror Picture Show') for buckshot as he heads into a house of horrors and dusts a vamp granny that definitely did not skip hot yoga day. All it takes is the silver lining of a door frame and more shells than what washes up at Laguna Beach. This is were things get interesting as Foxx then looks like he moonlights at a dentist, pulling teeth that certainly aren't dentures (this is somebody's daughter) and selling them on the black market. You see this daybreaking vampire hunter forgot the rules on 'Training Day' like Ethan Hawke and now HE is the one getting it in the neck like the first time he met Denzel Washington (YouTube it, along with another incredible impression), on the outside of his profession asking to be invited back in. This is where "I know some people, who know some people, who robbed some people", Snoop comes in. Offering a hand and a favour for an old friend like a rehire me, job recommendation. But like garlic in the throat, there's a catch. He most be accompanied by a hilarious, gun not so catching Dave Franco, watching his every move, by the book. His desk duty leaving him used to pushing more pencils than stakes through the heart, even if he can outfox Jamie in a 'Twi-hard' saga of fandom. If that wasn't enough there is also an undead Goddess that could even make Dracula blush that is even selling sunset like a reality show. Anyone not wearing two million sunblock now has a new way to avoid a bad day. And of course Netflix's 'Dad Stop Embarrassing Me' (S.O.S. Save our shows) star has to act like he's got some sense before his family becomes 'Back To The Future' faded like the reflection of those Buffy slayed. 

Dark shadows. There was a time there were more vampire movies turning than there are Marvel ones. But lately, it's all been coming up 'Morbius'. Perry (whose worked on 'Buffy The Vampire Slayer', 'Mortal Kombat' and 'Batman & Robin') seeks to change all that, however. As the former Stuntman of the Year looks to become the freshest new director with this fleshed out mix of martial art action with some shotgun-fun and classic comedy chops. You wont find much more enjoyable than Foxx and Co epically raiding a home with the bullet and chewing gum sharing (eugh), garlic flavour (mmm, you know what? Not so eugh) brotherhood of 'DOA: Dead Or Alive' Steve Howey and the 'Undisputed' Marvel member ('Mutant X', 'X-Men Origins: Wolverine' and 'Doctor Strange') who has a big role in the forthcoming 'John Wick: Chapter 4',  Scott Adkins. Scene stealing mercs for hire, until Foxx goes all Shohei Ohtani with the butt of his buss. In more Hawaiian shirts than Okinawa, Foxx's charisma wins here. Especially with an off-road car chase set to the backdrop of a Mario Kart like game on his sweet daughter's iPad. Straight to the same drains Schwarzenegger stormed with a spinning chopper. Not to mention his chalk and garlic bread with cheese pairing with the fond Franco and buddy cop trope that will have you pissing yourself laughing. But straight out the manhole cover like a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle (or maybe Splinter) and rolling his truck right into a mall scene straight out of the 'Dawn Of The Dead', it's Snoop Dogg (so good about knowing a thing or two about grass in 'Starsky & Hutch') who has the best lines. And the pick of a classic hip-hop soundtrack now he's the head honcho of Death Row Records, breaking off NBA champion Steph Curry with a gold chain for his Warrior state. And this is in a class cast that includes 'Shazam' star and former flame Meagan Good, Netflix's 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword Of Destiny' sequel star Natasha Liu Bordizzo lighting cigarettes with her fingertip and 'How To Get Away With Murder' star Karla Souza, so good at playing the devilishly undead. Not to mention Eric Lange's spanner or stake in the works boss and the great Peter Stormare waiting in his black market lair for something worse than a man who killed a guy with a pencil. Nursed by the sweet sounds of K-Pop boy bands (hey...me too). Netflix may have thrown more money at this movie (that's more underground than 'Underworld') than Jamie Foxx can get for his teeth, but this still has bite. Far from sucking, they could get a franchise out of this. So long as they don't bleed it dry. TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Further Filming: 'Project Power', 'Sleepless', 'Twilight'.