By Ama Brown,
Special to the AFRO
Jamie Foxx and Snoop Dogg took Netflix by storm recently, taking down supernatural beings for the culture in “Day Shift,” a fun, witty cinematic rollercoaster.
Our protagonist, Bud (Jamie Foxx), is introduced as a clever, no holds barred vampire slayer–who is late to pick up his daughter from school. Despite the clearly good natured and loving relationship he has with his ex-wife, he is unable to be honest about the nature of his work.
His lies are the cause for their split.
Joss (Meagan Goode) reveals that money issues will force her to sell their house and move away. This is where our hero’s journey really begins.
Demonstrating the love of a strong, Black father, Bud springs into action. He will do anything to keep his daughter close– even toss aside his pride. Bud calls in some favors to get back into the vampire slayer’s union, where the big money is.
Audrey (Karla Souza) is a tough as nails real estate queen by day and a vampire boss by night. Bud makes the mistake of crossing Audrey and the chase is on.
Bud is hyper-focused on getting the money needed to keep his family in the city, but it’s hard when he is also saddled with a union rep, Seth (Dave Franco), who has no desire to be out in the field.
Seth is as ambitious as he is uptight about following every rule, down to the letter. Assigned to Bud in order to spy on him, the two instead develop an unlikely friendship.
There’s an attempt at creating clear lore for the universe. Although in typical action movie fashion there are clear pot holes in the some of the character development: vampires are super strong until they aren’t; our protagonist is very resourceful until he isn’t; and his wife is also clever until she can only offer futile attempts to save her family – which has a dynamic that is weird at times.
In particular, there is a confession scene that is laughable at best. Since this is a light hearted project, the jokes work for the most part. There is also an attempt at an interrogation via fight that leaves viewers wanting more of a commitment to the idea. It simply didn’t go hard enough to be funny. However, enough jokes land successfully and forgiveness is offered.
We are introduced to a cast of fun characters that only matter for the scene they’re in. A pair of vampire slayer brothers make an appearance, leaving those invested wanting to see them again. They provide a nice action sequence, as do other slayers that are just as good as our hero.
The choreography is hands down the top thing overall. The fights are easy to see and follow without feeling like you’re watching a sad scene from that last Matrix movie. Outside of the interrogation scene, the fights were pretty good.
The soundtrack is wonderful, clearly defining each character and making the city of L.A. as solid a character as any living, breathing actor in the film. You find yourself listening and trying to even find a few of the songs on streaming music platforms. I had no issues seeing what was happening even in the dark- a strong shoutout to the lighting designers that are finally taking care to put their Black actors in light that brings out the brilliance of a brown skin tone on screen.
This film is fun from start to finish.
During the week of Aug. 8, “Day Shift” ranked as the number one hit for Netflix, according to data released by the company. The film clocked more than 51 million hours of views that same week. Viewers in more than 90 countries pushed the movie into Netflix’s top ten chart, proving that it was a hit around the world.
You root for the hero, laugh at his folly, and secretly wish they can all be one big, happy vampire slaying family.
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