Shadow Force (2025) Lionsgate/Action-Thriller RT: 104 minutes Rated R (violence and language throughout) Director: Joe Carnahan Screenplay: Leon Chills and Joe Carnahan Music: Craig DeLeon Cinematography: Juan Azpiroz Release date: May 9, 2025 (US) Cast: Kerry Washington, Omar Sy, Mark Strong, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Cliff “Method Man” Smith, Jahleel Kamara, Marshall Cook, Ed Quinn, Marvin Jones III (aka Krondon), Jenel Stevens-Thompson, Sala Baker, Natalia Reyes, Yoson An.
Rating: **
Stop me if you’ve heard this one. Two highly trained assassins working for a shady government organization fall in love and decide to start a new life. They try to quit their jobs only to find out there’s only one way out. They leave anyway. Now they’re being sought after by their former employer who finds them after one of them slips up. Now they have no choice but to take up their old profession. Oh yeah, there’s a small child in the mix.
The preceding has been the premise of countless movies and TV shows like the recent Netflix action-comedy Back in Action with Cameron Diaz and Jamie Foxx. It’s also the premise of Shadow Force, an action piece starring Kerry Washington (Django Unchained) and Omar Sy (Jurassic World) as Kyrah and Isaac, formerly members of an elite outfit called Shadow Force. They’ve been in hiding for the past several years. Kyrah is out there taking down her old colleagues while Isaac stays home to take care of their son Ky (Kamara). One day while running errands, armed men try to rob a bank. One of them makes the mistake of pointing his gun at little Ky. Isaac responds by beating the hell out of the entire gang. He then calmly picks up his boy and leaves as the police arrive.
Unfortunately, Isaac’s act of heroism is caught on video. It goes viral and catches the attention of his old boss Cinder (Strong, Shazam), now the secretary-general of an outfit called G7. He immediately calls in the rest of Shadow Force and doubles the multi-million dollar bounties on their heads. Knowing what to expect, Isaac takes his son to a safe house where he reconnects with Kyrah. She’s been away a long time, but it was all to keep their child safe. Reunited, they team up to protect their family and take SF down once and for all.
Isaac and Kyrah have a pair of allies in the form of Da’Vine Joy Randolph (The Holdovers) and rapper Method Man playing Auntie and Unc. Well, they’re supposed to be allies, but are they? In a movie like Shadow Force, it’s wise not to trust anybody. There’s always a turncoat where the heroes least expect it and audiences most expect it.
Directed by Joe Carnahan (Narc), Shadow Force is as mediocre as action movies come. It’s one of those assembly line deals where every twist and turn of the plot can be seen coming from a mile off. That, in and of itself, isn’t the worst sin an action movie can commit. No, Carnahan does something far worse. He delivers the action in a state of complete indifference. He brings none of the energy of Smokin’ Aces. It’s lazily plotted and plodding. Even the action scenes lack heart. Take the car chase. By all means, it should have been cool. The heroes are driving a vehicle with a machine gun mounted on a turret. What should be exciting isn’t. It’s as ho-hum as everything else going on.
Washington and Sy are both fine actors, but they have zero chemistry here. It feels forced. Now it could be because Sy wasn’t the original choice for the lead. Sterling K. Brown (This Is Us) was originally cast as Isaac, but got replaced by Sy after he stepped down. He stayed on as one of the producers. In any event, they appear to be doing their best, but there’s only so much they can do with a half-assed script and disinterested direction. Strong plays the same kind of character he’s played several times before. He’s on autopilot here, going through the motions in a mechanical way. Kamara is okay, I guess. He gets a little too cutesy at times; however, I did laugh when he referred to somebody as an a**hole (he actually does it twice). I can’t say a lot about the other team members because they’re given zero development. They’re literally hired guns, standing around waiting for somebody to kill.
The real MVP in Shadow Force is Oscar winner Randolph. However, her performance is as much a liability as an asset. She’s funny and sassy as Auntie; her exchanges with Method Man are amusing. Unfortunately, she’s not in synch with the rest of the film. It’s like she’s making a completely different movie.
The only other good thing about Shadow Force is the Lionel Ritchie music. He’s Isaac’s singer of choice. He has a special affinity for “Truly”. His son, in a true show of “like father, like son”, loves “Brick House” by the Commodores (Lionel was a member in the 70s). It’s nice seeing the R&B singer get his props. Too bad it’s not in a better movie.
Honestly, Shadow Force is no big deal. It’s not totally awful, but it’s far from good. It’s fair as indicated by my two-star rating. It’s passable (barely), but definitely not worth a trip to the cinema. Wait for it to come on streaming.
