SHADOW ISLAND tells the story of a Swedish meteorologist who barely remembers his father due to apparent suicide who, based on instinct and newly discovered evidence, decides to investigate what his dad was doing on a small secluded island on his last assignment. Once there, he finds a lot more than expected.
There was enough material here to turn this into a top notch thriller. The movie had genuinely unexpected twists and turns, and ultimately an interesting plot, but somehow it all added up to less than than the sum of its parts.
Early scenes in which a background radio mentions the accession of Sweden to NATO due to Russian aggression against Ukraine foreshadow that eventually the story will take on a geopolitical dimension, but even that ultimately serves just as background for a tale of unexpected family connections.
The criticism at the shortsightedness of each generation of people who do the dirty work for their governments, and thereby burden the next generation with painful memories and guilt is right on point.
So the film does a lot of things right. However, the dreamy filming style with flashbacks, flash forwards and dream sequences does not really mesh well with the plot as it sucks out most of the tension and suspense. Also, there is a slightly confusing point on whether the story alleges that the Swedish government or just a Swedish rogue group was secretly cooperating with Russia to spy on NATO. Finally, the assassination scene at the end leaves the movie on a weak note, since it is not entirely clear whether it succeeded and the assassin was unexpectedly clumsy, apparently.
All in all, a thriller that fell short of its potential.
