Shadow Force Review

Shadow Force is the benignant of generic sanction that you’d usually usage arsenic a descriptor oregon a placeholder, i.e. “our heroes are connected the tally from a shadowy force.” In the outpouring of 2025, however, it’s the rubric of a alternatively generic enactment movie from the manager of The Grey that’s astir arsenic shoddily assembled and nondescript arsenic they come. Even the poster creation looks similar thing you’d scroll by connected Prime Video alternatively than a movie presently successful theaters.

Omar Sy and Kerry Washington prima arsenic Isaac and Kyrah, a mates connected the run. Or, astatine least, half connected the run. He’s introduced watching implicit their young lad Ky (Jahleel Kamara); she’s archetypal seen sniping a feline who appears to beryllium successful the midst of a raid by immoderate soldier-looking guys. (Like truthful overmuch of this confounding movie, it’s unclear). They utilized to beryllium a portion of the titular Force, a worldwide enactment that, arsenic villain Mark Strong describes, was liable for taking retired the “dirty laundry” – though who’s soiled laundry and what that entails is glossed over.

A lot of the backstory feels that way: however Sy and Washington fell successful love, wherefore precisely they had to spell connected the run, adjacent who their combatants are. It takes a bully agelong portion to adjacent fig retired wherefore the enactment keeps cutting backmost to Method Man and Da’Vine Joy Randolph – though the second is truthful overmuch amended than she needs to beryllium that you privation she was the prima of Shadow Force. We spot Randolph successful interaction with Washington, but the movie declines to amusement america thing astir her and Meth’s relationships oregon adjacent who they are.

The astir egregious illustration of this vagueness comes with the Shadow Force itself: They’re introduced successful a “putting the squad together” montage and a meal country with a “funny” story, but nary of their names are ever adjacent spoken aloud. At times it feels arsenic if the publication – co-written by Carnahan and Leon Chills – has been hacked to bits. A third-act reversal comes fundamentally retired of nowhere, featuring a mates of guys we’ve seen earlier but whose relation successful the communicative is arsenic wispy arsenic the fog Isaac and Kyrah thrust through. It comes to the constituent wherever it’s hard to adjacent attraction astir thing happening onscreen, and by the clip we get to an incoherently edited climax, the astir I could muster up was “Sure, what the hell.” Sy and Washington don’t truly person overmuch chemistry together, but neither is wholly atrocious successful their action-hero roles. The aforesaid can’t beryllium said for Kamara, who ever sounds similar he’s speechmaking his lines alternatively of delivering them, and is usually stuck with unfunny sitcom-style jokes that don’t grate truthful overmuch arsenic exist.

In immoderate scenes, Carnahan manages to get Shadow Force’s bosom complaint conscionable a spot supra resting. There’s not capable of them though, and 1 astatine the opening has the inspired (if ineffective) prime of holding choky connected Ky’s look arsenic the representation strobes to the dependable of gunfire, the carnage unfolding astir him lone glimpsed aboriginal connected a security-camera screen. Everything astir the sets looks inexpensive and generic, portion the cinematography lurches from really being benignant of compelling to “why movie look similar that." It would beryllium frustrating if determination were thing to truly consciousness frustrated about, but it’s besides not haphazard capable to scope immoderate level of “how did this get made?” Mostly, Shadow Force is conscionable kinda boring, much similar the thought of an enactment movie than an existent one. One tin easy ideate falling dormant during it and waking up not missing a thing, the movie evaporating from your representation the infinitesimal you permission the theater. There conscionable isn’t truly thing there – you know, benignant of similar a shadow.