A Black locksmith runs afoul of ruthless gangsters after opening the wrong door in a European city wracked by Black Lives Matter protests. Night Call gets style points as a slickly-shot crime noir thriller, but dramatically fails with illogical exposition and a flawed use of racial unrest to drive the narrative. The easily duped protagonist becomes the textbook “Magical Negro” stereotype common in cinema and railed against by filmmaker Spike Lee. Our hero throws self-preservation to the wind for eye-rolling gallantry when he could have rectified his own dire situation.
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