Every once in a while we get a break from the bloated budget yet underwhelming straight to streaming shlock that makes up a large swath of a Netflix queue. That’s not even a big knock on the streaming giant, either. It just comes with territory of being the premiere content provider that requires vast options of anything and everything for anyone and everyone. Enter “The Shadow Strays,” a breath of fresh air in both the streaming choices and the action genre. Maximalist filmmaker Timo Tjahjanto returns with a knockout follow up to “The Night Comes For Us,” and delivers on just about everything you would want and expect from a bloody visionary like Timo. He indulges both his best and worst tendencies with “The Shadow Strays,” giving action fans the kind of balls to the wall chaos they crave while also crafting a convoluted narrative that sometimes crumbles under its own weight.
It may run a little long and get in its way plot wise, but when “The Shadow Strays” takes up arms against the sea of trouble – in this case henchmen with machetes, guns, and explosives – the film is unmatched in its blood splattered carnage. Along with this year’s “Kill,” and “Walled In: Twilight of the Warrior” action has never been better across the world, and the continued shedding of the “John Wick” knockoff approach feels reinvigorating to the often uninspired assassin against the world sub genre. Of course, it’s impossible to remove that influence entirely, but “The Shadow Strays” – like “Kill” – feels more inspired by things like “The Raid Redemption” and “Ninja Assassin” in both how the action is framed, its brutality, and practical martial arts stunt worked infused with over the top CGI blood splatter. This blend works, and elevates “The Shadow Strays” above its sometimes muddled world building.
“The Shadow Strays” follows agent 13 (Aurora Ribero), a young assassin from a clandestine organization that will kill anyone for the right price. They are known only as Shadow, a sort of mythical collection of ninjas known among the underworld that nothing can stop. After an incomplete mission that requires her handler to step in, she is sent to Jakarta to lay low until they can find another mission for her. Unable to sit still, she forms a friendship with a young boy named Monji who lives in the apartment complex where Agent 13 is hiding. After he loses his mother to a crime syndicate murder and disappears himself, Agent 13 goes rouge in an effort to find him, and accidentally gets involved in a huge criminal conspiracy that includes gangsters, police, and even prominent politicians. Agent 13 doesn’t just make too much noise in her search for Monji in the city, but it catches the ears of her organization, who may not be on her side as she puts everything on the line to rescue Monji. The film stars Ribero, Hana Malasan, Kristo Immanuel, Adipati Dolken and Ali Fikry.
From the opening action scene, “The Shadows Strays” tells you exactly what kind of film you’re in for and never looks back. It is unrelenting in it bloody action, the kind of break neck pacing and drawn out blood and violence that only someone like Timo Tjahjanto is ballsy enough to do. It is both exciting and exhausting, giving you just a little too much of good thing in a film that struggles to match the world building with its violent destruction. It runs nearly 2 and half hours, and every time you think “The Shadow Strays” is heading toward a finale, Tjahjanto hits you with a “but wait, there’s MORE!” This works when that more is action, something that never gets old and demonstrates just how well he understands how to deliver on the kind of mayhem action fans love. But with that comes even MORE narrative, and “Shadow Strays” gets in its own way often. It’s the kind of maximalist filmmaking that needs the slightest restraint, a little bit of editing that could go a very long way to solidfying “The Shadow Strays” into the best action film of the year discussion.
It constantly holds itself back when our protagonist isn’t getting fisty cuffs in neon-lit night clubs, grungy city streets and dark, dilapidated apartment complexes. Thankfully, “The Shadow Strays” has Aurora Ribero, an out of nowhere newcomer to both international and action cinema. Ribero only began her onscreen career in 2017, and proves she’s up to the challenge of superstardom with this bold new gamble. You would never guess Ribero was new to this, and the rigorous training (over 4 months in which Timo basically found, trained and created an action star from scratch) pays off in spades. Ribero commands the screen and is easy to root for, facing the challenging choreography and stunt work head on and open arms.
“The Shadow Strays” doesn’t work without Ribero’s tricky emotional balance of killing machine with doubts, constantly at war with trying to do what’s right but wrestling with the death strikes she is constantly dealing. She is constantly in flux between confidence in violence and naivety of the world, all of which makes for a compelling protagonist that, even when the story gets away from everyone, you can’t help but get behind. She’s the emotional crux and anchor to a story that almost gets away from itself entirely, and because she’s so easy to get behind elevates the rest of the performances. It almost doesn’t matter if “The Shadow Strays” makes sense. Ribero is exciting and compelling enough to follow that, paired with is excellent action sequences makes these indulgences forgivable.
“The Shadow Strays‘ is action mayhem to the fullest extent, pushing the limits and going there every time you think they might not. Timo is more than willing to cross the line, and while his canvas may get a little too abstract and overlong, it never once stops being entertaining and engaging. “The Shadow Strays” may have too much going on, but (no real spoilers) concludes in a way that leaves the door open for more and I can’t say that I wasn’t immediately ready to walk through and take the journey again. It may be too much at once, but the action is so riveting and violence and gritty and Ribero is such a great protagonist that even when I felt some relief that “The Shadow Strays” was over, I was ready to dive back into the world almost immediately.
“The Shadow Strays” is the kind of all out, unfettered action film we are always on the look out for, and does its job in giving the people what they want. It may be easy to overlook since it is going straight to Netflix and won’t have a theatrical release. But you’ll want to do yourself a favor and mark this one does as a must watch, because “The Shadow Strays” is here to entertain.
Give me a million of these. With Ribero at the center and Timo at the helm, I am all on board for a “The Shadow Strays” franchise. Give Timo Tjahjanto all the money he needs to keep upping the ante of action cinema and bring on “The Shadow Strays 2: Electric Boogaloo.”
Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars
“The Shadow Strays” is available to stream on Oct 17th. You can watch the trailer below.
