The Shadow Strays is an Indonesian action film that follows a young assassin who has to defy her mentor and group to defend a young boy from a crime syndicate. This movie is incredibly shot, with incredible action choreography and carnage that would make even Art the Clown self-conscious. Starring Aurora Ribero as Nomi, or Agent 13, The Shadow Strays is exactly what every John Wick rip-off wants to be without feeling like it’s trying to be anything other than itself.
The first twenty minutes of this movie is pure adrenaline, where we see one of the movie’s main calling cards: it’s action. Every fight scene in this movie feels like you’re shotgunning a Red Bull on the back of Bronco while jumping a canyon. The choreography is impeccable. I am such a big fan of sword fights and hand-to-hand combat in movies, and you can tell how much time and effort was put in to make each millisecond of action deliberate. Even the gun fights are incredibly engaging, thanks to fluid, kinetic camerawork. All the credit in the world goes to the stunt team, and to Ribero, who spent 4 months training to be ready for the demands of the role.
But the whole angle of them being Shadow Ninjas is incredibly cool. It creates awesome moments where these assassins appear in a room you think is empty and destroy the bad guys. While it’s not a mindless action flick, moments like that are where you can turn your brain off and appreciate just how cool things are without worrying about the logistics. They are incredibly brutal too. The first attack was like a revelation, like “Oh so this is where we’re setting the line” and the rest of the movie just kept going up to and past it. It was awesome as someone who loves gory graphic horror movies.
Aurora Ribero is incredible. Director Timo Tjahjanto described this movie as a “covert coming of age movie” to the Hollywood Reporter, and for that to work, Ribero has to be able to balance the innocence in Nomi’s humanity with the physicality and brutality needed to survive the waves and waves of assassins after her and the boy. She does remarkably, as you can see her constantly battle her insecurities and vulnerabilities with rage as her journey progresses and her physical, mental, and emotional fatigue sets in. She is insecure with her role in this Shadow Society yet can only leave through blood and death. She is haunted by the things she’s been forced to do and the things she’s been forced to live through.
What she wants most is control of her life, and even though we’re not assassins, it’s something we can all relate to. In this way, Nomi becomes a character we can see in ourselves. Giving her a young boy to try to protect while she is still trying to grow up and find her footing makes her understand the weight of her responsibility.
While the whole “hero has to protect a child” narrative isn’t new, The Shadow Strays keeps it interesting. Nomi herself being young adds a wrinkle to this as while she is a trained killer, there are more experienced, grizzled killers waiting to take her out. There are plenty of engaging characters along the way, as well as shocking and fascinating twists that make for a satisfying watch from start to finish.
The time between the action does feel long, however, as the movie does cram a lot of characters and subplots in. Some worked while others could’ve been weaved in more seamlessly. Also, towards the end, it felt as if there was almost too much action and I found myself almost getting exhausted. Maybe it just started to feel it’s runtime there for me, but I never found myself bored.
At times, it has the Netflix glare to it, but for the most part, the movie looks incredible. There’s a scene in the Cambodian forest at night that is only lit by a red flare that just scratches my brain in a way a lot of movies can’t. The Shadows’ costume design is also incredible, especially in the opening fight. While it makes sense, I wish Nomi could wear it more.
FINAL THOUGHTS
The Shadow Strays is one of the better, action movies I’ve seen this year, and I feel like it’s one of the best Netflix has put out in a while. Aurora Ribero dominates in such a physically taxing role while portraying Nomi in an empathic light. I am really excited to see what director Timo Tjahjanto has planned for Nobody 2 because he has proven he has the juice for fun, exhilarating, action. Go check this out.
