L'Ombre rebelle

It's a cool action movie with some particularly graphic violence to accompany the well-choreographed action scenes. And by graphic violence, I mean some of the killings of standard action-movie henchmen reach body-horror levels of brutality. The story is reasonably straightforward: an elite assassin gets suspended from active duty after fumbling a mission. She soon finds new purpose in protecting/avenging a local kid. Performances are good, there's lots of wild action and the story is familiar but compelling. Unfortunately it gets bogged down in an extraneous subplot at the start of the third act and said subplot subsumes the finale.

"The Shadow Strays" is marked by its shocking gore and unrestrained, exaggerated violence, but it lacks depth. It follows the familiar trope of a skilled assassin who, weary of her secretive existence, risks everything to save someone she hardly knows.

Thirteen (Aurora Ribero), a 17-year-old assassin with a compassionate side, takes on a formidable Jakarta crime syndicate after they threaten her young neighbor, Monji (Ali Fikry). Monji's mother, Mirasti (Jesyca Marlein), was a sex worker exploited by the brutal pimp Haga (Agra Piliang), who is linked to the sleazy nightclub owner Ariel (Andri Mashadi) and his politically influential father, Soemitro (Arswendy Bening Swara). After Haga murders Monji's mother, Thirteen forms a bond with him and finds herself in a deadly game of cat and mouse with Haga, Ariel, and their associates. A series of gruesome and dramatic showdowns decimate their ranks.

The film drags on with relentless fighting and lacks the substance needed to unify its elements. While the cinematography is commendable, some early fight scenes are poorly executed, featuring adversaries lined up to be taken down one by one. This isn't the kind of movie I'll get excited for.

What The Shadow Strays lacks in coherence, depth and story is made up by the relentless, almost non-stop, action. There's plenty of blood squirting out of bodies, impossible fight scenes wrapped up in a rollercoaster of guns, swords and an occasional explosion.

If you desire intellectual stimulation, look elsewhere. The characters are two-dimensional, singularly focused on... in fact, I don't think we were even introduced to the characters' motivations. I'd go as far to suggest that the dialogue wasn't necessary, subtitles in my case as it is a non-English film.

Anyway, if a hypnotic opera of blood and action will help you relax, then sit back and enjoy.

First of all I can't believe this is an Indonesia movie. This movie have amazingly done fight scenes for an Indonesia movie. Full of blood and gore scenes. I liked this movie very much the start to the end. Recently I lose interest in the middle of every movies that I watch but this movie kept my interest to the end. If you like action movie then this is for you. Some people hesitates because this is Indonesia movie don't do that just jump into it. You will like it for sure. Some scenes doesn't make sense but most of the action movies have scenes like that right. This is an awesome movie 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

From the director of The Night Comes For Us & May the Devil Take You comes a vicious, violent & vengeful action thriller that delivers on the action front with its no-holds-barred approach yet is undermined by its needlessly overlong & half-baked story that actually could've done without a whole subplot. Within its bloated 145 mins runtime, there is a lean n mean 90 mins action film that would've sufficed.

Written & directed by Timo Tjahjanto (Killers & Headshot), The Shadow Strays concerns a young assassin who goes on a killing rampage to save a boy from a crime syndicate. Tjahjanto's direction is lot better than his writing, for the action set pieces & fight choreography are utterly impressive but the dramatic portion is weak, character bits lack depth, storytelling is mediocre, plus it piles up extra baggage for no reason.

The picture would've been thoroughly gripping if it was solely focused on a single tightly-knitted plot instead of branching out in multiple directions and didn't need to be as long as it turned out to be, for it unnecessarily complicated a simple, straightforward premise. Performances are fine when it comes to the physicality of the roles but isn't compelling on the emotional front. And the journey also gets repetitive after a while.

Overall, The Shadow Strays is packed with bloody, intense & gruesome scenes of carnage but there is also a much better film buried beneath all the insipid attempts at creating a sprawling crime drama at which it fails. The story is at its most gripping when it features our protagonist slice, dice, stab & slash her way through endless bodies and yet every time the film decides to take a breather, the interest fizzles out and it all comes to a standstill.