My Thoughts on Night Patrol
Night Patrol is a multi genre film that doesn't take itself too seriously, as it’s aware of all the rules it’s breaking and just keeps breaking them without much care.
It opens with Wazi Carr (RJ Cyler) in an LAPD interrogation room, bleeding from a shard sticking out of his side, and as Wazi recounts what happened, the film hops around between past and present in ways that feel loose but intentional.
Wazi’s brother, Xavier (Jermaine Fowler), is a cop trying to make it up the ranks,and he’s ambitious in the sort of way that makes you want to warn him not to get too attached to rules or morality because, clearly, neither of those things are in the cards for this movie.
He’s envious of his partner Ethan (Justin Long), who has the rare privilege of being invited to the so-called Night Patrol, and it’s hard to talk about Night Patrol without mentioning that they’re vampires, because the movie doesn’t hide that fact, as it announces it, and then moves on to bigger, odder questions.
Gangs, cops, family dynamics, and neighborhood politics are all intertwined in Night Patrol, and often ridiculously - the Bloods are paranoid and superstitious, constantly on the lookout for demons, shapeshifters, or lizard people with acid tongues as an example.
The whole structure of the film is pretty uneven, where some scenes are tightly composed and thrilling, while others meander through dialogue that feels almost improvisational, and the chaos often included people getting ripped apart in ways that are so exaggerated, it circles back to comedy territory.
One of the strangest elements, at least for me, was the sheer variety of themes it tries to tackle - police corruption, gang violence, fractured families, economic disparity, supernatural horror, moral ambiguity- it’s all there, sometimes overlapping, sometimes awkwardly contrasted.
I didn’t expect all of that to fit together, and yet, it actually mostly does.
The ensemble cast adds a surprising amount of depth to to it as as well. Phil Brooks, as Deputy, is a streetwise cop with a presence that makes you take him seriously even when the dialogue is ridiculous, and Freddie Gibbs, as Bornelius, brings energy and tension to the Bloods, and Justin Long, well, he is delightfully unhinged as Ethan.
The vagueness to a lot of the movie almost feels like part of the fun - to be uncertain about what exactly drives people, or vampires - and I have to admit, there were moments where I laughed out loud because the absurdity was just so unapologetic.
By the time everything converges at the Colonial Courts housing project, it’s clear the film doesn’t care about subtlety, as Blood flows, secrets are revealed, and alliances shift, and I thought the climax was both absurd and satisfying that eels right for the type of movie this is - messy, excessive, and oddly coherent in its own logic.
Night Patrol is a movie that resists labels - it’s a horror story, a comedy, a family drama, and a social critique all at once - and I appreciate that it’s ambitious enough to attempt all of that without apologizing for itself.
By the end, you realize that the movie thrives on contradiction, where it’s horrifying and funny, grounded and absurd, chaotic and strangely ordered, and I didn’t expect to enjoy it as much as I did, but I also can’t imagine watching it any other way.
It is a mess, but it’s a mess that knows exactly what it wants to be.