Shadow Force (2025)
The title Shadow Force sounds like one of those cheap, generic direct-to-streaming releases or, if you remember the '90s, the direct-to-video titles that collected dust on the video store shelves. Shadow Force does have a better budget than those direct-to-whatever films, but it is just as forgettable.
Assassins Kyrah (Kerry Washington) and
Isaac (Omar Sy) fall in love and have a kid. Because they broke the rules,
their former employer (Mark Strong) has put a bounty on their heads. So, it's
love on the run in this somewhat convoluted and generally idiotic spy thriller
directed and co-written by hack filmmaker Joe Carnahan (Narc, Smokin'
Aces).
The performances are fine. Washington
and Sy have good chemistry, and Strong plays a villain once again, yet he's not
phoning it in. However, it's Jahleel Kamara as the couple's young son, Ky, who
steals the movie. He's definitely a young actor to look out for.
Some aspects that make the movie go
awry are the plot contrivances, like Kyrah going to the villain's lair to chat,
but it's just so she can be captured. She is on the run with her family from
these professional killers, so why would she decide to meet with them?
Another area of the movie that sucks is
the wonky editing. There is one action car chase set on a foggy road, which is
a neat idea, but the execution is routine. At the end of the chase, the car
carrying Kyrah, Isaac, and Ky flips and crashes. We then see the bad assassins
descend a hill and watch the car sink into a lake. The film then cuts to Kyrah
and her family safely hiding in some bushes. When did they escape from the car?
It really felt like a scene was missing.
Shadow Force probably could have been a good movie in the hands of better filmmakers.
