The majority of vampire films admittedly have landed either as great hits or great misses. The recent Netflix vampire offering also happens to explore the adventure, comedy, and action genres with Jamie Foxx taking centerstage. Day Shift, which is now available and rests comfortably at the number 1 spot on Netflix Ph, piqued our interest which is why we decided to watch and review it here at This Is Hype Ph.
Day Shift Review: Synopsis
As mentioned, Day Shift stars Jamie Foxx alongside Dave Franco, Meagan Good, and Snoop Dogg just to name a few. The film follows Bud Jablonski (Foxx) a pool cleaner who is actually a trained vampire hunter who actively looks for vampire fangs to sell for profit. Bud needs all the financial help he can get as the threat of his family moving to Florida is just around the corner if he cannot help sustain them any longer. Bud rejoins the vampire hunting union where he is assigned a supervisor/partner by the name of Seth (Franco) as the two are dragged into a wild adventure that pits them against a gang of vicious vampires.
Day Shift Review: Spoiler Warnings
We will keep our review of Day Shift free from any spoilers that may interfere with your viewing experience. We will limit our discussion in this review to the visuals; its premise and standing as a vampire comedy-action-adventure film.
Letting It All Bleed Out
Let me just be brutally honest from the get-go. The film aims to inject as much humor and fun as possible but ultimately most of it just falls flat and face first to the ground. It’s even cringy at times with how desperate the punchlines are that focus more on slapstick humor such as pants peeing, vomiting, and talking headless vampires. I honestly tried to laugh at these jokes but couldn’t muster a single muscle to do so due to the forced nature of it all. In all honesty, they should have stuck with a more serious and straight-to-the-point action-adventure flick, leaving the comedy for another film project entirely. It honestly didn’t make sense and in turn, robbed the potential for a pretty decent vampire movie that I honestly believe we finally need.
Day Shift seemed to focus more on being a buddy film throughout the middle and final moments of the film rather than the supposedly vampire-centric plot that is aimed to have. The biggest error I believe with Day Shift is that it fell into the trap of tackling too many things all at once. Day Shift tried to be funny. It tried to tackle themes of family. It was also a buddy film, mixed in with vampire elements while juggling action and adventure. It was just too much for one movie. To put it simply, everything that Day Shift tried to achieve made it into a very diluted movie — achieving nothing really specific and of great value in the end. It should have been a great vampire flick that centered on themes of family but instead of being bloody great, it was just a bland mess.
The casting for the most part was kind of bleak due to the story itself that was lacking a substantial and interesting premise, to begin with. While Jamie Foxx did the best that he could possibly do with the role that he was given by injecting as much humor and possible depth into the father-figure role, there were still some characters, roles, and performances that didn’t do as well as the star of the movie. Dave Franco’s character for example faded into the background and was honestly a weak partner to Foxx’s character. Franco wasn’t able to really hold his own for the role as he relied on awkward moments and slapstick humor as well as some sloppy action stunts towards the end. Snoop Dogg’s somewhat guest appearance was actually decent for the most part as it gave us the artist in his truest and saddest form but the denouement for the character was also underwhelming and wacky.
An Anemic Vampire Flick
Day Shift fails to really provide a worthy and decent vampire flick it’s that plain and simple. Don’t get me wrong there are some elements to it that are pretty okay at most but as a whole and more importantly as a film that dives into the gothic-vampire genre, there are several things that go wrong. The vampires for the most part weren’t all that great. Most didn’t even look like vampires except for the obvious changes in speed and bodily movements which at certain moments even looked like brain-eating zombies instead of blood-sucking monsters. The acting however in terms of the stunts and showcase of vampire-like agility and flexibility is admittedly praise-worthy. These moments were some of the highlights as we are given a lot of contortionists and fast-paced action scenes (which we will get back to later on). The moments that feature vampires, in my opinion, were also lacking in quantity, not just quality.
Day Shift also features a very underwhelming villain at the center of it all. The real estate agent who is the big head honcho to all the blood-sucking chaos didn’t command any of the respect and authority that could have made the conflict of this movie all the more intriguing. The conclusion was admittedly too quick and even a tad bit on the corny side as the resolution wasn’t at all that satisfying. As a whole, the film wasn’t as exciting to be quite honest for the most part.
There were some redeeming moments however such as the action scenes towards the middle that was actually well put together in terms of the choreography and production. These moments provided an intensity that the movie desperately needed and while it did border on becoming a bit too much and still tried to create a humorous atmosphere, these show small lights of hope for Day Shift. Sadly however these small glimmers of hope were extinguished pretty quickly.
Day Shift Review: Final Verdict
Day Shift is a great example of a film that once again tries to do so many things all at once. It’s jam-packed with a variety of genres such as comedy, action, and adventure while even trying to create supposedly deep and substantial themes. In the end, however, it becomes all too confusing as to what the film actually aims to achieve and furthermore turns into a movie that lacks identity and direction. We were hoping for a decent vampire-action flick from this one but sadly we have to say that it all just failed in the end. We don’t really recommend this one as it honestly was a waste of time despite having a few small saving graces. If you have such time to truly spare, however, and if you really enjoy a bloodbath of cringy moments, then why not? But don’t say we didn’t warn you.
Hype Meter: 4/10
For more reviews:
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- Prey Review: Exactly How A Prequel Should Be
- The Orphan First Kill Review: The Unexpected Continues
- ICYMI: Everything, Everywhere, All At Once Review
- Bullet Train Review: American Action Redemption
