Shadow Force (2025)

3 Stars (out of 4)

Love & Scores

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

Surprisingly likable, brisk, and funny — at least until the third act begins to drag a bit — Joe Carnahan's diverse action flick Shadow Force easily gets us on the side of its loving family and rooting for them the whole way.

Isaac Sarr (Omar Sy) is doing his best to singlehandedly raise his son Ky (Jahleel Kamara), apart from his absent wife Kyrah (Kerry Washington). One day, with his son in danger during a bank robbery, Isaac's old skills kick in and he easily dispatches the robbers, but his actions are caught on tape.

Isaac takes Ky to a safe house in Bogotá, Colombia to lay low. Kyrah finds them there, and reunites with her son for the first time in four years. We learn that both Isaac and Kyrah were part of an elite team of assassins called the Shadow Force, but they broke the rules by falling in love. So, in order to be free and clear, Kyrah has been trying to kill the rest of their number.

But their old boss, now a Secretary General, Cinder (Mark Strong), has put out a bounty on their heads, and their ex-team members are now gunning for them. So they must call in some help from fellow agents "Auntie" (Da'Vine Joy Randolph) and "Unc" (Method Man) and prepare for a showdown.

Shadow Force has as its secret weapon the child actor Kamara, who is instantly lovable, endlessly asking questions ("are there piranha in here? Are there fish in here?"), accusing his parents of swearing, and singing along with heart and soul to Lionel Richie's 1982 ballad "Truly."

He forms a natural rapport with actor Omar Sy, but when Kerry Washington's Kyrah lays eyes on him after four years of being apart, you can feel her absolute joy; her wide smiles and utter adoration are genuine. (When he sleepwalks to her and rests his head on her shoulder, she's visibly touched.)

Carnahan keeps this going with the inspired pairing of Oscar-winner Da'Vine Joy Randolph and former Wu-Tang Clan rapper Method Man as "Auntie" and "Unc"; their loving bickering is endearing. Then, the angular, tightly-coiled Mark Strong plays a mesmerizing villain, hitting all the right notes without feeling like a psychopath.

Where Carnahan and co-writer Leon Chills go wrong is not bothering to introduce us to the rest of the Shadow Force, five deadly assassins with killer looks and no personalities. When the showdown begins, the fights are meaningless. But, note for note, Shadow Force still has enough good stuff going for it to make it worth an evening's diversion.