TIFF 2024 | Movie Review: "The Shadow Strays" Delivers Top-Notch Action To Netflix
11/12 ForReel Score | 4.5/5 Stars
If you've been in the contemporary action hemisphere recently, you've probably heard of Timo Tjahjanto. Hailing from Indonesia, the country that changed action forever with Gareth Evans’ 2011 TIFF Midnight Madness darling The Raid, Timo Tjahjanto has been at the forefront of the Indonesian action scene. Having directed showstoppers such as 2016’s Headshot and the criminally underseen The Night Comes for Us, Tjahjanto has been one of the most exciting action filmmakers to emerge in the last decade. His latest feature, The Shadow Strays, a Netflix original now streaming on the platform, is without a doubt one of the craziest action movies I have ever seen. It’s unfortunate that this is going straight to streaming, as this movie completely blew the roof off of the midnight crowd. This was one of my most anticipated movies of the festival, and it exceeded every expectation.
Image courtesy of Netflix
The Shadow Strays follows 13 (Aurora Ribero), a paramilitary operative, who breaks protocol to save a young boy from a deeply rooted network of gangsters. It may be a simple premise, but Ribero’s performance adds a lot of emotional palpability to what could've been a very by-the-numbers story. It’s not exactly breaking new ground, but it's good enough to give the rest of the film a strong emotional drive. Clocking in at nearly two and a half hours, The Shadow Strays has enough of a narrative hook to keep one invested for the full runtime. The opening scene alone is enough to make you lean forward into your seat, with night-vision head explosions and blood being spilled by the gallon. It’s truly a sight to behold, and it had me in my seat like a football fan watching their team win the Super Bowl. Every second of action is facemelting, and the core drama is compelling enough to make the action sequences feel important and essential. Of course, the violence is gratuitous, but Tjahjanto’s writing and direction are effective enough to make every drop of blood matter. I don’t think I’ve had so much fun during an action movie since last year’s John Wick: Chapter 4. I had an absolute blast, and I expect action fans to be satisfied, if not floored.
The storyline has the basic structure of a Call of Duty campaign, with a treasure trove of ass-kicking characters that brought a beaming smile to my face when they got their times to shine. 13 is spectacular, and her counterpart, Umbra (played by Hana Malasan) is such a cool character as well. It helps that the Shadows, the paramilitary that 13 and Umbra work for, have the coolest costumes ever. They even have a juggernaut-type figure who crushes people like grapes; it’s so unbelievably awesome. I was kicking my feet like a little kid on Christmas morning, cherishing every second of Tjahjanto’s mesmerizingly batshit action. The midnight crowd (and me, of course) was cheering at every opportunity, with plenty of “oohs” and “ahhs” at the toe-curling brutality of it all. The violence is extremely visceral, and it’s all elevated by Tjahjanto’s masterful work behind the camera.
I’ve noticed a trend recently where some action movies try to be frenetic and wild with the camerawork, trying to almost play copycat to the intensity of the Indonesian action scene, but the truth is that these guys are operating on entirely different levels than Hollywood. As much as I scorn Netflix for sending this straight to streaming, they’re one of the only distributors who let people like Tjahjanto run wild with their ideas. In many ways this feels like Tjahjanto’s magnum opus, and it’s an incredible sendoff, now that he’s doing Hollywood films like Nobody 2, which I’m beyond hyped for. I’m really rooting for Timo, and I really couldn’t be prouder to be a fan of his.
I’m crossing my fingers that this movie is a mainstream hit, but I know action fans will have an amazing time with this. If The Night Comes for Us wasn’t proof enough, I think The Shadow Strays proves that Timo Tjahjanto will absolutely flourish in the next few years, especially now that he’s being given big Hollywood budgets. I had the time of my life with The Shadow Strays, and I’m sure that everyone reading this will too.