Shadow Force

An uninspired film. We aren’t given enough of a backstory to care about any of the characters, and the fight scenes, which are supposed to hold this film together, are not very well done.

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If we’d been given some scenes of the Shadow Force in their prime or been shown some of the interpersonal dynamics of the team we might have cared more. Heck, we aren’t even told the names of the any of the crew: they’re a group of nameless assassins who are mad at Omar Sy and Kerry Washington’s characters because they left the crew.

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Also, an inordinate amount of screen time is given to a 6-year-old who is cute but whose lines have no bearing on the plot. We’re supposed to care about him because he likes to sing along to Lionel Richie, but I found myself rolling my eyes during those bits.

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Omar Sy, of Lupin fame, moved to the United States more than 15 years ago to learn English so he could star in Hollywood films. In this, he speaks more French than English but we don’t mind because he is easy on the eye and the subtitles are provided for us.

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Overall, even though this film cost 40 million dollars to make and has some big stars in it (like Kerry Washington and Mark Strong), it feels low-budget. The plot is dumb and the writing is poor. It's easy to see why it made only 5 million at the box office.

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In my opinion, the best scenes are those with Method Man and Da’Vine Joy Randolph.

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