THE NIGHT CREW (2015)

The Night Crew (2015)
Directed by: Christian Sesma
Written by: Christian Sesma, Paul Sloan
Starring: Bokeem Woodbine, Chasty Ballesteros, Danny Trejo, Jason Mewes, Luciana Faulhaber, Luke Goss, Paul Sloan

THE NIGHT CREW (2015)
Directed by Christian Sesma

A young woman named Mae, working at a strip club in Mexico, is chased and captured by a duo of the cartel’s henchmen bwhen a group of bounty hunters come to her rescue. However, it’s out of the frying pan and into the fire as the bounty hunters have been tasked to capture Mae and take her across the border to the USA to claim the price on her head. With Mexican drug lord Aguilar eager to have Mae returned to him, he scolds his henchmen after their bungled capture and redeploys them to complete the job a second time but the bounty hunters won’t relinquish Mae without a fight. What exactly Aguilar wants with Mae is a mystery, but as the group find out, there’s more to Mae than meets the eye.

Action thriller THE NIGHT CREW focuses on a tight knit group of bounty hunters who want nothing more than to return home to the USA with a big pay day and the only the way that can happen is by escorting pole dancer Mae back across the border. However, the sick young woman is not as feeble as she looks and manages to keep the bounty crew on their toes. However, with the cartel on her back, maybe being protected by the bounty hunters isn’t as bad as it seems? Nothing could be worse than having to return to ruthless crime lord Aguilar who treats Mae as though he owns her soul. If the bounty hunters, consisting of calm leader Wade, ladies man Crenshaw, badass Ronnie and no-nonsense Rose, want that big pay day, they’re going to have to survive a viscious onslaught and get home in one piece.

Aiming to get the blood pumping, THE NIGHT CREW delivers with its ballsy attitude and varied firefights against the vast numbers of the cartel’s minions. These military-trained individuals are precise and work well together as a team but with a hostage who doesn’t want to be caught, babysitting her is sometimes more hard work than fending off the enemies.

The film does well to mix it up with an interesting choice of cast. Our very own Luke Goss (formerly of Bros) stars as the cool-headed Wade, the leader of the team who runs his missions like clockwork and ensures the safety of his bounty. Bookeem Woodbine plays Crenshaw, a laidback know-it-all but skilled when it comes down to business. His girlfriend Rose (Luciana Faulhaber) is a force to be reckoned with and can give as good as the guys can, whilst Paul Sloan stars as quiet Ronnie, the efficent bounty hunter who always has his team’s back. Starring as the big bad is one of my favourite actors, Danny Trejo. In THE NIGHT CREW, he excels at playing the ruthless bad guy Aguilar and his viscious grip over Mae will have you despising his character. It’s sometimes hard though to find Mae, who’s played by Chasty Ballesteros, as someone who’s in fear of her life. Her character is rather headstrong and fiercely independent, and not afraid of using her sexuality either. But it would seem her strength and attitude are no match for cartel boss Aguilar who won’t stop hounding her until he gets what he wants. Jay and Silent Bob‘s Jason Mewes has a brief role as security guard Chachi who’s appearance is merely there to provide comic relief and who’s screentime isn’t much more than 10 minutes.

Though it plays out like a straightforward action flick where the bounty hunters must get from A to B, THE NIGHT CREW has a little extra hidden up its sleeve which works quite well. The film is one of those watch-once-only movies but for an indie actioner, it’s quite a decent effort with its particular strengths in the action sequences and the fantastic chemistry between the cast members.

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