When it comes to low-budget action flicks, few directors embrace the chaos quite like Gregory Hatanaka. With Night Cops, he delivers a brisk, no-nonsense cop thriller that feels like a throwback to the VHS days of tough talk, gunfire, and grit — for better and for worse.
At just over an hour, Night Cops doesn’t waste time. The film drops us straight into the world of Dominic Falco (Nino Cimino), the toughest cop in Los Angeles, and his partner Harris (Jason Toler). Together, they find themselves squaring off against Beckard, a ruthless mastermind who’s methodically wiping out rival gangs to seize control of the city’s criminal underworld. It’s a classic setup, stripped to its bare essentials — good guys, bad guys, and a whole lot of gun smoke in between.
There’s an earnest, scrappy energy to Night Cops that’s easy to appreciate. Hatanaka, also serving as cinematographer, keeps things moving at a breakneck pace, giving the movie a raw, almost guerrilla-style edge. The lighting, staging, and editing may not always be polished, but there are flashes of visual flair that reveal a filmmaker who still loves playing in this sandbox. And to his credit, Hatanaka never lets the film drag; the story flies by fast enough that even when it falters, it never lingers long on its flaws.
What the movie lacks, though, is depth. The characters are all types we’ve met before — the stoic, no-nonsense cop, the slick villain, the loyal partner — and the script doesn’t do much to expand on them. There’s little emotional weight or personality beyond the surface. Still, there’s a certain charm in how unapologetically the film embraces those clichés. Night Cops feels like an AI dream of 1980s cop cinema — all grit, gunfights, and leather gloves — and in a weird way, that’s part of its appeal.
Nino Cimino and Jason Toler make a solid pair, playing their roles straight even when the story edges into absurdity. Nicole D’Angelo and Craijece Danielle lend some texture to the supporting cast, and while no one’s getting Oscar buzz here, everyone seems fully committed to the film’s pulpy tone. It’s that commitment, more than the plot itself, that keeps Night Cops watchable.
Sure, it’s rough around the edges, and yes, some scenes feel stitched together on the fly, but there’s something undeniably entertaining about watching a film that knows exactly what it is. Night Cops doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel — it just wants to burn rubber down the boulevard, firing off one more bullet-riddled showdown before the credits roll.
Ultimately, Night Cops is the kind of late-night B-movie that belongs on the back shelf of a video store, the sort of oddball crime thriller you stumble on and end up finishing out of sheer curiosity. It’s flawed, messy, and oddly endearing — proof that even in the age of algorithms, there’s still room for a little handmade madness in action cinema.
Verdict: Rough but lively. A scrappy, cliché-ridden cop flick that’s more fun than it probably deserves to be.
Jessie Hobson