There are so few solid, meat-and-potatoes American action films every year that get studio resources and an actual theatrical release that one is almost tempted to give something like Shadow Force a pass on general principle. It’s a bitter pill, then, that even a critic as devoted to the genre as this writer can barely muster the enthusiasm to churn out 500 words on this incoherent mess. Director and co-writer Joe Carnahan has helmed some five bangers in the past, but it’s unclear what he’s doing here at all; there are no thrills, barely any set pieces, and lots of attempted comedy bits that land with a thud. But by all means, if having an adorable child tell Method Man that “Wu Tang Clan ain’t nothing to fuck with” is your idea of a laugh riot, then tap in.
The film begins with single dad Isaac (Omar Sy) and precocious 5-year-old son Ky (Jahleel Kamara) going about their day-to-day life. The boy asks questions about his absent mother, and Isaac explains that Mommy is out there somewhere, working to keep them safe. They also enjoy singing along to Lionel Richie songs in the car, while Ky asks his dad what “brick house” means (“big boobies,” replies dad). Money seems to be an issue, and Isaac stops by the bank to dispute some predatory charges. In an unfortunate bit of timing, as a gang of thieves with machine guns come in to rob the place and wind up pointing their guns at Ky. Isaac gets a fierce look in his eyes and proceeds to take out the entire gang (although audiences are robbed of an actual action sequence, as this is relayed via a series of elliptical fade ins and outs). Footage of Isaac’s rampage goes viral, drawing the attention of his estranged wife Kyrah (Kerry Washington) and their former boss, government bigwig and ex-super spy Jack Cinder (Mark Strong, absolutely devouring the scenery).
Lots of tortured exposition follows: Cinder ran the top-secret, titular Shadow Force, a group of elite assassins who pledged a lifetime of fealty to the organization. But Kyrah and Isaac fell in love, and after she got pregnant, they abandoned the group. Cinder subsequently wanted them eliminated, and so Isaac took Ky into hiding while Kyrah embarked on a years-long mission to pick off various operators around the globe as they got too close to her family’s hiding spots. As the result of Isaac essentially doxxing himself, Kyrah and Isaac are reunited, while Cinder summons his soldiers for one final push to track down the traitors and silence them for good.
This all seems fairly straightforward, but it takes a long time to maneuver these parts into position. Sy and Washington are basically enacting a comedy of remarriage, while Strong seems to exist in a particularly over-the-top Bourne movie. Shadow Force also occasionally cuts away to Auntie (Da’Vine Joy Randolph) and Unc (Method Man), although it’s unclear what they have to do with anything until well into the third act. There’s a palpable tension between the erstwhile couple, so much so that their initial reunification leads to a brief kung fu fight. Kyrah can’t believe that Isaac would expose himself and Ky so carelessly, and is convinced that he’s lost a step over the years. All of this would be a little more charming if Sy and Washington had any chemistry together, but despite both being impossibly attractive performers, there’s no heat between them at all. Anyway, before you know it, the reunited family is on the run, with the rest of the Shadow Force hot on their heels.
It’s hard to overstate just how incoherent all of this is. The film stops dead in its tracks to have Ky sing along to a song in the car, as if this is inherently hilarious, before awkwardly lurching into a car chase sequence. It’s a cool scene, as motorcycles and an 18-wheeler close in on Washington’s souped-up muscle car, shooting red flares through dense fog while Kyrah unloads a few hundred rounds at the pursuers. But it’s over almost as soon as it begins, and the film instead gives more time to Randolph and Method Man throwing salty banter and Strong’s mastermind torturing some underlings. It’s the kind of movie where characters can simply appear in an entirely different country through the power of one edit, and random side characters suddenly become important because the script needs something to happen. By the time one of the good guys is revealed to be a heel just in time for the film’s climax, the uselessness of the proceedings has really sunk in. Carnahan manages a decent shootout for the grand finale, pulling together a few different groups in an approximation of the bedlam Tony Scott orchestrated at the end of True Romance, but it’s all too little, too late, as the movie limps to its foregone conclusion of an ending. It’s a bad day at the office for all involved, leaving the winking suggestion of a possible sequel feeling like an active threat.
DIRECTOR: Joe Carnahan; CAST: Omar Sy, Kerry Washington, Mark Strong, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Method Man; DISTRIBUTOR: Lionsgate; IN THEATERS: May 9; STREAMING: May 30; RUNTIME: 1 hr. 44 min.
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