Prime Time: The Killer's Game (2024)

The second feature film directed by J. J. Perry (after the enjoyable Night Shift), I have to start this review by saying that there was a lot here that seemed to be appealing directly to me. I like both Dave Bautista and Sofia Boutella, who have main roles here. I like a lot of movies about hitmen, of which this is one. And I like a lot of people in the supporting cast, from Scott Adkins to Terry Crews, and from Alex Kingston to Pom Klementieff . . . and I suppose that Ben Kingsley does okay in the right role. So it's a shame that this was so awful. 

Bautista plays Joe Flood, one of the best hitmen in the business. He meets a beautiful dancer named Maize Arnaud (Boutella), and that makes him start to consider retirement. Retirement isn't always a luxury afforded to hitmen though, especially when they have been as busy and successful as Joe. But when he is given bad news by a doctor, Joe decides the best thing to do is to put a contract on himself. Unfortunately, he soon discovers that he has a big reason to renegotiate, but Antoinette (Klementieff) isn't interested. She's sent out the call and a number of flamboyant killers have answered.

Apparently based on a book by Jay R. Bonansinga, The Killer's Game has a screenplay, written by Rand Ravich and James Coyne, that is one of the most derivative and tired I have encountered in the past year or two. The hitman ordering a hit on himself is standard stuff now, as is the change of circumstances coming along too late to stop the onslaught of greedy mercenary murderers, and everyone involved having their own quirky style makes it feel like something that would have been much more fun about twenty years ago, before that choice was used in far too many other movies.

Crews is a lot of fun in his role, and Scott Adkins has fun putting on a Scottish accent to work alongside Drew McIntyre, but they are the only ones who liven things up. Okay, Dylan Moran is an unexpected delight in his small role, playing a priest who receives quite the confession, and Kingston has a couple of amusing moments, but nobody else seems to stay awake in front of the cameras. Bautista seems very stilted and slow, and he has no chemistry with Boutella, who is hampered by being the love interest kept in the dark for most of the runtime. Klementieff fails to make her potential villain truly menacing or memorable, Kingsley is so low-key that he seems to have wandered in from a much calmer movie, and that covers the people who actually made any impression on me. 

Perry can showcase some action that feels visceral and impactful, but he even undermines that aspect of the film by trying to make everything more fun and funky with each main fight sequence choreographed to some pop song that, at best, ensures the film has zero tension and, at worst, reminds you of whenever tht song was used in some other, much better, movie.

The pacing isn't bad, some of the scenes look nice enough, and I am easily entertained by groups of people descending upon one another to engage in a mass brawl, but this is generally not worth your time. It's a huge disappointment, and every single main cast member has a handful of better films that you could enjoy checking out instead of this.

3/10

If you have enjoyed this, or any other, review on the blog then do consider the following ways to show your appreciation. A subscription/follow costs nothing, and ALL of the links you need are here - https://linktr.ee/raidersofthepodcast
Or you may have a couple of quid to throw at me, in Ko-fi form - https://ko-fi.com/kevinmatthews
Or Amazon is nice at this time of year - https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/Y1ZUCB13HLJD?ref_=wl_share

Netflix And Chill: Day Shift (2022)

It all makes sense now. Day Shift is a horror comedy that happens to be directed by someone, J. J. Perry, who has spent most of their film career working as a stunt co-ordinator. This isn't the start of some snobby criticism of the movie. It just explains why I was so impressed by the action set-pieces here.

But let's start at the beginning. This is a film in which vampires exist, and there are people who earn a living from hunting vampires. One of those people is Bud Jablonski (Jamie Foxx), an effective, but also sometimes irregular and messy, vampire hunter who needs to earn a lot of extra money in a short amount of time. And you can only earn the most money by working for the organised union, which means Bud has to ask a friend (Big John, played by Snoop Dogg) to help convince a manager to give him another chance to show that he can play by the rules and play nice. He gets his chance, but he also gets an inexperienced partner (Seth, played by Dave Franco). And, unbeknownst to Bud, there's a vampire with a very personal vendetta against him. One that may imperil his daughter (Paige, played by Zion Broadnax) and his ex-wife (Jocelyn, played by Meagan Good), which means that they may soon realise he isn't just the pool cleaner he claims to be.

Co-written by first-timer Tyler Tice and relative newcomer Shay Hatten (who also helped on the last John Wick movie and a recent movie series kick-started by Zack Snyder), Day Shift is a very funny and very violent work that uses the vampire movie sub-genre as a background for some enjoyably inventive fights and deaths. The interplay between Foxx and Franco is very entertaining "buddy-movie" banter, and any little pertinent details, about the plot or types of vampires, are easily scattered throughout (or info-dumped into a scene by Franco's character).

Perry mainly keeps everything moving with a great deal of energy, and the title may clue you into the fact that we have more daylight-set scenes than you would expect in a vampire movie. It's only in the third act when things start to drag, with a finale that disappointingly feels as if too many of the coolest tricks are repeated while any sense of real danger quickly dissipates. There's also a problem throughout the film with people refusing to open curtains and make better use of the sunshine, but that was easier to overlook during moments of extensive vampire violence.

Foxx is solid in the lead role, easygoing and always looking able to handle himself, and Franco works really well alongside him. It's a very standard pairing - the competent killer and the office worker being put into the field for the first time - but it's one that provides ample opportunity for some good laughs. Broadnax is a particularly likeable child star, and the script gives her a few moments to shine, while Good finds herself a bit too restricted in the "ex-partner who the lead hopes to reconcile with" role. Snoop is Snoop, and he seems to be enjoying himself, while Karla Souza and Oliver Masucci do well in the role of the main fanged foes. Steve Howey and Scott Adkins kick ass in one brilliant sequence that takes everything up to 11, Nathasha Liu Bordizzo makes a decent impression with her small role, and both Eric Lange and Peter Stormare do their bit to try and steal a scene or two.

This isn't a film to take seriously, and it's not one I would recommend to anyone looking for scares. It's a horror comedy with the emphasis on the comedy, and an extra emphasis on the potential for wildly over the top action. It works in that regard, and shaving the runtime by 10 minutes or so would have had me shouting about it from the rooftops. As it is, it's a perfect choice for any evening when you just want something that will help you avoid boredom without taxing your brain too much. Also . . . I would definitely be down for an sequel/spin-off that decides to focus on the characters played by Howey and Adkins.

7/10

If you have enjoyed this, or any other, review on the blog then do consider the following ways to show your appreciation. A subscription/follow costs nothing.
It also costs nothing to like/subscribe to the YouTube channel attached to the podcast I am part of - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCErkxBO0xds5qd_rhjFgDmA
Or you may have a couple of quid to throw at me, in Ko-fi form - https://ko-fi.com/kevinmatthews