Day Shift movie review: Jamie Foxx’s new Netflix action-comedy is movie night material, but you could also just go to sleep

Directed by debutante JJ Perry and co-produced by Chad Stahelski (director of the John Wick movies), Day Shift feels very much like a film that was conceptualised as one thing, but (perhaps after being bitten in the neck) was transformed into something else over time. It’s co-written by Shay Hatten, the 28-year-old who has already worked on three Zack Snyder films and multiple projects in the John Wick franchise. He’s likely behind Day Shift’s elaborate world-building, which includes blink-and-miss evidence that the film Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter might be canonical to this universe, and a longish exposition dump about vampire factions.

Set in the modern-day San Fernando Valley — although the oversaturated visuals, the buddy comedy humour, and a Peter Stormare cameo could remind viewers of 90s action films — Day Shift combines an overly straightforward man-on-a-mission plot with dense lore not just about the vampires that roam freely among us, but also a union that oversees working-class hunters like Foxx’s Bud Jablonski.

After a series of misdemeanours, Bud was thrown out of the union and forced to sell his wares — vampire fangs and the like — on the black market. Penniless and estranged from his wife, Bud is reinstated as a union member, but on one condition. He’ll be allowed to conduct business only with a chaperone — a paper-pusher named Seth, played by Dave Franco.

He’s a dorky foil to the braggadocious Bud. Seth has the rulebook memorised, thinks guns are ‘immoral’, and is very proud of his most recent purchase — an ergonomic chair for his office desk. So, when he’s instructed to accompany Bud on ‘hunts’ and report back to his boss the moment Bud puts a toe out of line, Seth is thrown completely outside his comfort zone. But under threat from vampires who already own the night and now want to seize the day, he has no choice but to follow orders and tag along.

Franco previously appeared in a supporting role in the two Jump Street reboot films, and while Day Shift leans more heavily on the action and doesn’t warrant Lord-Miller comparisons, it has an odd-couple energy similar to those films. The jokes rarely land, but the action is regularly engaging — and in a surprise twist that could potentially please Christopher Nolan himself, largely practical. From the stunt-work in the combat sequences to the drone photography in an elaborate car chase sandwiched between the film’s two halves, there’s a playfulness to the set-pieces that feels rare in this era of navel-gazing action filmmaking.

Somewhat problematically, however, the 90s vibe (perhaps inadvertently) also invites some casual sexism in the script. Of course Bud’s ex-wife is ‘taking’ their daughter away from him, and of course (female) porn stars are equated with aliens. The film could have easily avoided these missteps, without losing its composure even a tiny bit. But either in its excitement to properly honour the kind of films that it has been inspired by, or — and this is more likely — nobody involved knew any better, Day Shift represents both the best and worst of that era.

Either way, it’s still a marked improvement over recent Netflix action movies, including the unwatchable buddy comedy The Man from Toronto, the shockingly cheap Carter, and the vastly more high-profile (but shamefully bad) The Gray Man. I’m grading on a curve, though, because praising a film like Day Shift serves as a reminder of just how dark the situation has really become.

Day Shift
Director – JJ Perry
Cast – Jamie Foxx, Dave Franco, Meagan Good, Natasha Liu Bordizzo, Snoop Dogg
Rating – 3/5