Directed By Joe Carnahan

Starring – Kerry Washington, Omar Sy, Jahleel Kamara

The Plot – An estranged couple (Washington, Sy) with a bounty on their heads must go on the run with their son (Kamara) to avoid their former employer, a unit of shadow ops that has been sent to kill them.

Rated R for violence, and adult language throughout.

Shadow Force (2025) Official Trailer – Kerry Washington, Omar Sy

POSITIVES

Despite the derivative essence of the material within a plot that you’ve seen play out a hundred times on-screen, “Shadow Force” somehow overcomes the odds with its brand of crowd-pleasing action intensity that play particularly well on the biggest of screens, giving audiences an abundance of summer blockbuster thrills that never skimp on the intensity and devastation factors of its endearingly entertaining recipe. Being that this is a spy thriller of sorts, the many conflicts that Carnahan commands are not only quickly executed with the speedy precision of fluidly-flowing fight choreography, but also a variety of action set pieces that keep the formula fresh throughout the movie’s 99-minute duration, and though the script offers periodic bites into the smoking gunfire and high stakes destruction that capably makes the most of every setting, the third act almost instantly establishes itself as the adrenaline-fueled main course, with a couple of reevaluating twists to the pocketed dynamics that help to balance the power within an antagonist side that are fighting against two of the most skilled marksmen in the world. Speaking of the protagonist couple at the forefront of the movie’s narrative, their dynamic certainly echoes that of “Mr. and Mrs. Smith”, with witty confrontational banter and exercised demons in the form of physicality that conjures their own unique way to express internalized feelings towards one another, however it’s ultimately the picture perfect chemistry between Washington and Sy that is a frequent delight to experience, giving the script an equally compelling angle away from action set pieces that effortlessly elicits the spark and connective longing that still persists in each of them, over the course of four years apart. There’s certainly a healthy dose of rivalry for dominance between them in their unorthodox careers, but also a warmly glowing inescapable essence of love that is made apparent in the ways that each of them looks at the other, making them feel like the overwhelming favorites in the two against the world sentiment that drives so much of their goal to finally be free of their pasts. As for the compelling performances, Washington completely transforms herself into a bona fide badass, both with the resiliency and swagger of a deadly assassin, but also the frail tenderness that devastatingly deconstructs her during moments of regret or situational adversity that can be felt in the transfixed expressions that Washington supplants to responses. Follow this with a memorable turn from Omar Sy, with Idris Elba levels of suave demeanor and patient candor, and a hilariously precocious breakthrough turn by 8-year-old Jahleel Kamara, and you have characters who effortlessly elicit the empathetic appeal of the audience, made all the more easier with a devilishly delightful turn from Mark Strong, who revels in the depths of a power-hungry psychopath continuously pressed to push these characters to the brink with the toxic vengeance that drives him. If this isn’t enough, the globetrotting appeal of on-site photography provides luscious landscapes to flourish throughout the movie’s cinematography, proving that every cent of the established sixty million dollar budget went towards articulating an artistic integrity that flourished vibrantly for the big screen, feeling like the first flashy movie of the summer movie season that equally plays into the powerful mentalities and importance of these dangerous entities. Lastly, much respect goes to Carnahan himself for capably maintaining urgency and vulnerability towards the movie’s tonal consistency, even with a script that unabashedly goes out of its way to imprint the engagement with a healthy dose of surprisingly effective comedy. I’m not someone who always goes for the cutesy quirkiness of kid characters implemented to such dangerously established worlds, but here those periodic observations from Kamara feel like they help to appraise a firmer meaning towards the stakes that his parents are continuously fighting for, and because those pocketed moments of levity dissipate just as quickly as they arrive to the various interactions, without overtaking them in ways that makes this a comedy first encompassing, they prove to be valuable exploits that surprisingly work ideally well for the personality that Carnahan was channeling, in turn cementing a fun and frenetic experience that every demographic in the audience will feel endeared by.

NEGATIVES

As for the disappointing aspects to the film, the script doesn’t always feel like it makes the most of its minutes, particularly during the opening act, which feels like a film already in progress, despite so much value and appeal in the depths of these characters established pasts. Because the film starts in the present, the dialogue is forced to work overtime to explain the kinds of details to the audience that they didn’t experience in real-time, and it not only leads to an abundance of mile-high exposition dumps, but also a major missed opportunity to illustrate the dangerousness and dynamics of those sent to kill Kyrah and Isaac, who even at a six on two disadvantage, never feel too overwhelmed, as a result of being the only ones with firm characterization to the screenplay. Too many characters is another major issue that the film has, especially considering so little time and effort goes into properly defining them, and this couldn’t be more apparent than with the duo of thankless roles given to Method Man and last year’s Oscar winner, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, who merely only travel around and chew up the scenery before the script finally calls them into the fray. Even when this happens, there’s very little definition properly supplanted to their characters that helped me to know and understand them any better, and considering the film already has as many as eleven other vocalized characters that it spends time on, there’s simply not enough screen time to make each of them invaluable parts to the integrity of the experience, feeling like stacking trades to the foundation that waste away such meaningful casting. Finally, while much of the movie’s action sequences left me adored by meticulous editing schemes, boldly blanketing sound designs, and limitless annihilation, the desire to go artificial, with lifeless green-screen backdrops and C.G fire deposits, that made these scenes stand out like the most obvious sore thumb, and the kind that nearly sacrificed all of the momentum garnered from such an intensely riveting climax. The worst of these examples certainly pertain to a speed boat chase between sides that proved that the production either ran out of money or decided to embrace laziness during the movie’s most defining moments, and the side angle shots of the actors standing on the boats are 1997 levels of hilarity, made worse by playing on a big screen that has no reservations about pointing out inconsistent color grading, or even a shifting frame rate, as a result of the speed of the sequence not mirroring the motions of the characters inserted in during post-production. Thankfully, I only noticed these aspects during two sequences throughout the duration of the film, however they leave more than a noticeable blemish on the surface of an otherwise strongly shot film, threatening to sacrifice all of the aforementioned hard work of its production and ensemble who work overtime towards cementing summer season popcorn thrills aplenty.

OVERALL
“Shadow Force” is definitely far from the action movie of the year, but its fiercely fun performances within its collectively talented ensemble, as well as thrilling action, help to captivate the kind of big screen appeal that plays best by leaving your mind at home. While the film is plagued by artificiality in visuals that nearly squander its sixty million dollar price tag, the glue that holds the seams together is the can’t-miss chemistry from Kerry Washington and Omar Sy, taking aim not only at a group of vengeful mercenaries, but also the hearts of an adoring audience who effortlessly empathize with such dangerous characters who put family first, even if it kills them.

My Grade: 6.8 or C+