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DVD Review- Next Day Air (2009)
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Donald Faison and Mos Def deliver in Next Day Air.
Quentin Tarantino has cast quite a tall shadow over much of the crime-themed cinema of the past 15 years. Since directing his first three genre-redefining features (Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, and Jackie Brown, not to mention his screenplay for True Romance), this breed of action film has seen numerous screenwriters and directors borrow much from Tarantino's style. Elements of his filmmaking include snappy and profane dialogue, bloody and violent bursts of action, healthy doses of dark humor, multiple storylines that eventually become intertwined, many pop culture references, and casts that are mostly (if not entirely) criminals. Some of these Tarantino-influenced flicks include Smokin' Aces, The Way of the Gun, 3000 Miles to Graceland, Things To Do in Denver When You're Dead, and 2 Days in the Valley. Now we can add Next Day Air as the newest action comedy to owe some debt of influence to Quentin.
Next Day Air opens in typical Tarantino fashion with a short scene of hapless deliveryman Leo (Donald Faison; Scrubs) surrounded by drawn guns claiming that he has nothing to do with whatever is about to go down. From there, the film flashes back two days prior, where we witness some Latino drug lords in Calexico, California sending a sizable and important shipment to Philadelphia. Then we move ahead to the next day in Philadelphia. We meet three bumbling crooks who share an apartment, Brody (Mike Epps; Next Friday), Guch (Wood Harris; The Wire), and Hassie, who Brody and Guch argue over which one of them told him he could stay at their place. These criminals are down on their luck as they just screwed up a bank robbery where they got away with nothing more than the surveillance tapes. We also meet the previously mentioned deliveryman Leo, a stoner who works for the titular Next Day Air, whose boss is about to fire him and also happens to be his mother. Leo delivers the package that was sent by the Latino drug lords to Brody and Guch's apartment, #302; however, it was supposed to be delivered to the apartment next door, #303.
Brody and Guch open this wrongly delivered package and are happily surprised to find ten bricks of cocaine. Guch declares that it's a gift from God, and the two of them set in motion a plan to sell this ill attained booty to Brody's cousin Shavoo. Meanwhile, we meet the inhabitants of apartment 303, Jesus and his gorgeous girlfriend Chita (Yasmin Deliz, former VJ for mun2, a Latin music television network), who were supposed to receive the pilfered package. They tell Jesus's boss Bobby (one of the drug lords in Calexico) that the package has not arrived, and soon enough they realize who has their drugs. Bobby and some hired and highly armed help fly out to Philadelphia to get back their package. Then events conspire that lead us back to where the film opened, with poor Leo surrounded by guns (and most of the characters in the film) when a fierce showdown for the kilos of coke erupts.
While as a whole Next Day Air is an okay movie, it does come off as underwhelming. Part of the problem is that at 84 minutes it's far too short. There's just not that much to it, basically a package is wrongly delivered and a bunch of criminals try to get it back, that's all there is to the story. It feels like what would amount to a subplot in a Tarantino script. Also, we really do not get much backstory on any of the characters. Next Day Air would have more emotional resonance if we knew who any of the players were; however, with no idea who these individuals are the film basically comes down to black criminals versus Latino criminals. Meh.
But there are definitely a lot of things that Next Day Air does do right. This is the first feature film for director Benny Boom, who is also an experienced music video director. His pedigree shows because the movie looks great, especially the last ten minutes where it really (and finally) comes alive in the action-packed conclusion (which does owe a debt to Tarantino's True Romance, which ends similarly); hopefully his next movie will have a better and more fleshed out screenplay. Also, all of the acting is quite good. Especially notable is rapper Mos Def (Be Kind Rewind, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) in a supporting role as Eric, a deliveryman who has a tendency to steal from packages and ends up being mistaken for Leo in one of the film's funniest scenes. Too bad the screenplay does not live up to the acting and directing on display. Next Day Air is moderately recommended for rental, and certainly would not be a waste of time on cable. Fans of action and crime movies won't be totally disappointed, but they won't be particularly blown away either.
DVD features include a commentary with director Benny Boom (what a great name) and producer Inny Clemens, and also six minutes of outtakes.
For more information: Next Day Air
Rent it from Netflix: Next Day Air
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