Cast: Kerry Washington as Kyrah Owens, Omar Sy as Isaac, Jahleel Kamar as Ky, Mark Strong as Jack, Da’Vine Joy Randolph as Auntie, and Method Man as unc.

Written By: Leon Chills and Joe Carnahan

Directed By: joe Carnahan

Significant Producers:Sterling K Brown, Kerry Washington,

Original Score By: Craig Deleon

Released By: Lionsgate

Release Year: 2025

Rated R

Runtime: 104 minutes

Audio Description Produced By:

Written By:

Narrated By:

What is it?: A former secret agent (Sy) is on the run with his son, hiding from the organization he used to work for. but, after his attempt to stop a bank robbery goes viral, his location is made known, and his former boss (Strong) puts out a hit. this also lets his ex (Washington), and mother of their child, know where they are after being absent from their lives for most of the kids life. together, this dysfunctional couple of spies will have to team up to protect their kid from an organization hellbent on destroying them, and brainwashing their son.

What Works: Director joe Carnahan has been here before. That helps a lot. Carnahan previously helmed the fun action flick Smokin Aces, which saw a convergence of hitmen, and while this new script is too derivative to have the same fresh flavor that film had, he does know how to get through a scene. He’s a little underrated as a director, turning in several solid films like Boss Level, Narc, and the Grey. While a proven director doesn’t always lift a mediocre film, this script is rather tiresome in its likeness to other projects. What is worse, is that those projects aren’t working either. The 355 was just a few years ago, and was similar, and also failed to deliver despite a strong cast. But, I do believe this film was helped tremendously by the guiding hand of Carnahan. Also, Omar Sy, who is allowed to move between his native French and also English, is the best performer, even if he’s the least familiar to American audiences. Sy feels game for this off brand Mr and Mrs Smith, and indicates he’d be far more useful in the right film. Mark Strong has made a career out of playing villains, so his performance is exactly what you’d expect. I can’t fault him for giving what he was typecast to do. And while they serve no purpose for the majority of the film, Da’Vine Joy Randolph (making good use of that Oscar) and Method Man offer a bit of levity.

What Doesn’t Work: Basically everything else. the film is clunky, struggling to find identity in a script designed to not have any. the familiarity here is the selling point, for audiences who like a really specific type of thing. Who are used to watching things like last year’s The union, about some strange spy force no one has ever heard of. There’s truly nothing original in this film. Kerry Washington was never believable to me as a spy, and i enjoy her as an actress. She plays the role with even less believability than Halle berry did in The Union. While this film benefits somewhat in my being blind, there’s just something about me following her performance, and the audio description for her action scenes, and thinking how they must look awful because I don’t think she’s doing any heavy lifting on this front. I believe Sy can fight, but he’s the only one. the film also criminally has no idea what to do with Da’Vine Joy Randolph, except use her for occasional cuts of levity, even if her character means very little to the plot at the time. It isn’t the deepest of travesties, and I’m sure some will enjoy it once as a time waster, but it is designed almost entirely for a captive audience who will watch for Kerry Washington, or because they enjoy every film of this ilk.

The Audio Description: there are some action films where the stunt team is brought in, and a coordinator is able to push the limits of what can be in an action movie. This is not that movie. So, considering the action here is rather tame, since no one here has the combat skills of Keanu Reeves or Tony Jaa, the audio description instead tries to make up for it by getting as many details of the environment, costumes, and other aspects sometimes lost by more action heavy films. it oddly seems to be doing all it can, given what it has to do. The film is underwhelming, and the audio description describes it a bit more like a comedy/action as a result, trying to bring us other depth in the description. The choice of narrator is not distracting, and the balance was well done.

Why You Might Like It: I’m not sure fans of Kerry Washington will love this, as she’s cast a bit out of her comfort zone. You might enjoy this is you like light action movies that aren’t pervasively violent, and have an attempt at humor. if you liked films like The 355, The Union, Back In Action, Mr and Mrs Smith, or even Smokin Aces, you’ll at least find comforting similarity.

Why You Won’t Like it: while a paints by numbers feeling can create the safety of never really totally failing, as the director colors within the predetermined lines, ultimately Shadow Force feels like a hundred other films and television series with nearly identical plots, most of which work better than this. And I can’t get past how criminally wasted Academy Award Winner Da’Vine Joy Randolph is here. It almost feels like one of those long shelved projects that gets released suddenly because one of the stars became famous. Except, the rest of the cast has substantial credits to their name. I’m hoping she signed to this pre-Oscar, because if these are the roles we’re offering her after The Holdovers, then shame on Hollywood.

Rotten: Final Grade: 3.8