The Night Crew – review

Director: Christian Sesma

Release date: 2015

Contains spoilers

So, I’m going to spoil this one right off the bat as this is an action film about heavily armed bounty hunters who run in with the Cartel but there is a shocking twist…

Given the name of the page is Taliesin Meets the Vampires, and I’m reviewing this then… yup, the ‘target’ is a vampire. Actually, that has little impact on the film’s story, though it does add some powers and weaknesses to the character as one would imagine. It also features some competent actors – though not necessarily in their best vehicle.

in the club

Starting with a biblical quote we see a car driving through a Mexican town, the two men in the car packing heat. They stop at a strip club. Inside Mae (Chasty Ballesteros, American Horror Story: Hotel & the Mummy) is performing when one of the customers gets a little handsy and she snaps his wrist. She makes her escape from the club (and the guys who had come after her) into a Day of the Dead parade, but she seems to be struggling in the sunlight (I wonder why).

Luke Goss as Wade

The men eventually catch her and, despite bloodying one of them, they are going to kidnap her when a jeep pulls up with heavily armed soldiers wearing balaclavas. They zip tie the two Cartel members and drive off with Mae. We get to meet the armed guys as they take their balaclavas off. There is leader Wade (Luke Goss, Cold and Dark, The Dead Undead & Blade II), with him Crenshaw (Bokeem Woodbine, the Breed), Rose (Luciana Faulhaber) and Ronnie (Paul Sloan). They are bounty hunters and someone is paying big for Mae.

professionals

Not paying them, but sending his Cartel out after Mae is Aguilar ( Danny Trejo) – a Cartel boss who we see, often, receiving a transfusion of blood. Mae gets away from Wade and holds up in an abandoned apartment complex, where security guard Chachi (Jason Mewes, Bitten & Netherbeast Incorporated) sells her out to the Cartel and Wade’s crew track her down. The Cartel send a gang of thugs in after them and all Hell breaks lose as Wade’s instincts start telling him something is wrong with Mae.

fangs

So, lore… Sunlight makes her ill, we don’t see her feed (though we do see her rip a throat out in anger) but blood is a necessity, she heals rapidly, she can sprout fangs, she is super strong and can turn others. We do notice that she can read people well and can sense if a woman is pregnant (even when they are not far gone) and can determine the baby’s gender. And that’s about it lore wise… so, the verdict…

Danny Trejo vamps out

This is an average action film and the twist isn’t capitalised on at all. The cast make do with what they’ve got, however, and Luke Goss produces a passable line in stoicism. Danny Trejo is wonderful, as always, and sees to be having fun. The story hangs loosely, with some logic leaps necessary and the vampire aspect is almost superfluous. That said, as a take your brain out, the film probably serves a purpose. 4.5 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

On DVD @ Amazon US

On DVD @ Amazon UK