First things first, I’ll never relate to anything more than what Vanessa Kirby chooses to go through to protect Zach Gottsagen. He deserves peace and the world.

After (what I thought was one of the better thrillers of 2023) Sharper, director Benjamin Caron is back with Night Always Comes. A thriller with a fitting name with even deeper meaning. Caron brings the anxiety in a way that I haven’t felt since Uncut Gems, and Vanessa Kirby is the perfect continuous vehicle to feel it through. Her on screen presence is always a welcome one and her acting at the core is certainly meant for roles like this.

Getting to know the relationships of these characters was super important for this to work and it certainly does its job. Hitting a little too close to home for some, this movie starts off with a pretty pivotal situation that sets the whole story into motion. It immediately brought anger into my movie watching heart and hooked me into the seedy nature of the surrounding characters. It’s kind of scary how good the actors in this movie were at playing dirtbag characters. Not only was Jennifer Jason-Leigh perfect for this role, I think it’s the type of character she will inevitably fall back into for the rest of her career.

Night Always Comes slowly slips into more and more sinister situations as the night goes on. There is a lot of risk at the characters hands, but in the end it mostly feels worth it. A ticking clock in the back of your head serves as a reminder of what is at stake and pulls this along swiftly.. The underground Portland vibes are a really nice touch to a film that doesn’t have a whole lot going on, even though it is a decent “one night” movie. The building tension doesn’t fully lead to much but I still found Kirby engaging and capable of playing the part.

Elements of horror, fear, loss, and regret grace the screen in this solid effort that shows how tough life can be. I do wish there was more finesse to the direction and more of an expensive story as not too much will stay in my memory. I will circle back and say Zach Gottsagen is quite honestly a delight and I’m glad we got to see more of him. This makes for an easy at home watch but I can’t escape the feeling it could have used something to level it up.

Night Always Comes is streaming on Netflix at www.netflix.com/nightalwayscomes

6.6/10