TIFF 2024: The Shadow Strays Review

This will be one of many reviews during this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, to keep up with our latest coverage, click here.

Indonesian writer/director Timo Tjahjanto, known mostly for his uber-violent martial arts action films is back with his latest, The Shadow Strays. One thing for sure is that the film will certainly not be for the faint of heart but we wouldn’t have it any other way. Offering a little bit of something for everyone, it has tons of thrilling, well-choreographed action and plenty of brutality as those hits have an impact that can be felt throughout. An ode to classic action movies, including some of Tjahjanto’s former works, it is a non stop ride that perhaps run a touch too long, clocking in at neat the 2.5-hour mark. Not one to think about too much, audiences need simply to strap themselves in and get ready for the beautiful chaos that is to come. Looming over the story is a faction of clandestine assassins known as ‘The Shadow.’ The story itself follows one of their youngest members, an assassin known as Codename 13 (Ribero) whom after a botched mission that saw her mentor Umbra (Malasan) take the fall, was banished back to the slums of Jakarta. Ordered to lay low, she couldn’t help herself, watching over a young boy and interfering with the business of a local crime syndicate.

Setting the stage with a gruesome and show-stopping opening act that saw ‘The Shadow’ in action, as 13 and Umbra disposed hoards of Yakuza. Establishing that contrast between the teacher and the student, the evolution of that dynamic over the course of the film is easily the highlight. It was clear that 13 had the skills and could hold her own but what set her apart from Umbra was her emotions and her inability to set them aside in favor of the good of the mission, unlike her cold and calculating teacher. Now on her own, sanctioned or not, she had to act but little did she know that in saving the boy, it would set forth a series of events that would paint the walls of Jakarta red with the blood (and/or other stuff) of whoever stood in her way. Faced with a conspiracy spanning the highest levels of a corrupt local government, the journey of 13 grew increasingly dangerous the deeper she got as her actions did not go unnoticed by the rest of ‘The Shadow.’ A real one-woman army, she was a blast to watch as she disposed of her opposition using anything at her disposal with the utmost violence. One spectacular set piece after another, it is a thrill in every sense of the word, leading to an absolute bonkers finale and that doesn’t even do it justice.

The Shadow Strays is a violent roller coaster of excess with strong action and inventive kills, and it’s easy to get caught up with all of that for understandable reasons, but it is also anchored by 13 in what could also be called a coming-of-age story. Ribero is a knockout, making for a compelling anchor in the midst of the insanity that surrounded her. Coming into her own over the course of a film, she is a force that could more than handle herself on the action side and so was Malasan as Umbra. Her chemistry with Ribero made for a winning dynamic.

In the end, The Shadow Strays is a brutal delight as this thrilling and violent martial arts extravaganza leaves a trail of destruction in its wake.

 still courtesy of Netflix

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.